I have a minor (read major) obsession with scones. (See evidence here and here). It’s an addiction I fully blame on the Columbia Astrophysics department that just HAD to be in the same building as a Joe’s coffee shop. As you can imagine I spent … Read More
Mini Bakewell tarts that are perfect for the holidays. These tarts are made in a mini muffin pan and filled with jam and almond cream. There are a few classic flavor combinations that I just can’t get enough of. Chocolate and hazelnut; earl gray and … Read More
A great, 3 ingredient, lemon souffle recipe for two! This lemon souffle recipe is honestly much easier thanyou might think, and it feels like such a little treat!
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For Christmas this year, two of my siblings gave me miniature Le Creuset dishes*. For anyone not familiar with Le Creuset they’re basically the Rolls-Royce of baking dishes. They last forever, come in really cute colors, and are a complete joy to cook in. (Yes Marie Kondo these baking dishes bring me joy)
I’ve been looking for something to bake in these cute little dishes and decided that they’d be a perfect souffle dish! It turns out I was right, the dishes are completely perfect for individual lemon soufflés.
I started off with this New York Times recipe and made it more or less as written. It’s a great recipe but it’s actually a bit too sweet for me.
(I’m a pastry lover who doesn’t love sugar. Go figure)
Anyway, I took that recipe and tinkered with it in order to get the right balance of sweet and sour. Or at least what I think is the right balance!
The tinkering involved lots of making Loml taste lemon soufflés and quizzing him on whether he thought the lemon was really lemony enough.
A Side Note on Lemon Soufflés:
There are actually two schools of thought with lemon soufflés. Some people make a lemon pastry cream base with milk, flour and egg yolks and then fold in egg whites.
What I’ve done here is actually much simpler and just involves whisking egg yolks with sugar and then folding in the flavorings and whisked egg whites.
The former makes for a slightly more substantial souffle, while my version is incredibly airy and light. I actually think both are delicious, and the reason I went with this version was literally just because it’s simpler to make.
That being said, if you are making lemon soufflés for a crowd or a special occasion, definitely try out the other method just to see what you prefer!
Why you should make this Lemon Souffle Recipe
Flavor – These little souffles are extra lemony and delicious! Perfect for a light dessert.
Sized for Two – It can be so hard to find dessert recipes that are perfectly sized for two, but this one truly is!
3 Ingredients – that’s right! You only need three ingredients. Lemons, sugar and eggs (plus butter for the ramekin)
What you Need to Make these Mini Lemon Souffles for Two:
Honestly, it’s not as hard as you’d think. The main issue is timing, souffles like to be served immediately, so you’ll want to make sure you only put it in the oven about 15 minutes before you’re ready to eat!
Can you make lemon souffles in advance?
Yes! Simply make the recipe up until the point of baking, fill the ramekins and cover with lids or plastic wrap. At this point, you can refrigerate them for up to 2 hours before baking.
What makes a souffle a souffle?
A souffle is a dish made by folding beaten egg whites into a flavored base. The base is often made with egg yolks, but the exact recipe can vary. When baked, the air in the egg whites expands, which results in a light and airy dessert. The name souffle comes from the verb ‘souffler’ in French, which means to inflate, so literally speaking it’s an inflated dessert!
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Lemon Soufflé for Two
Adapted from Mark Bittman’s New York Times Recipe
This recipe makes two individual soufflés that are perfect for a quick dessert when you’re running low on ingredients! Soufflés are one of those things that look massively impressive but actually aren’t as tricky as you may think. The key is to eat them as soon as they come out of the oven instead of waiting around!
Start by buttering the inside of two small ramekins. Sprinkle sugar into the ramekins and shake it around so that the inside is fully coated with sugar and then shake out any excess.
Separate the egg yolks and whites into two medium sized bowls.
Zest the lemon to get about 1 tsp lemon zest and then juice it to get 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
Whisk the egg yolks with 30 g of sugar until thick and very pale. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest and then set aside the yolks.
Whisk the egg whites with the remaining 15 g of sugar. Fold the whites into the yolks in batches until smooth.
Pour the mixture into the two ramekins and smooth out gently with a spoon. Run your finger or a piece of paper towel around the inside of the rim to help the souffle rise.
Place the two souffle dishes in a baking tray and then fill with hot water until the water comes half way up the dishes.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until they’re set in the middle and then serve immediately.
Notes
These are best eaten as soon as they are ready, but the uncooked souffles can sit in the fridge for an hour before you cook them !Try serving these with a berry sauce or fresh berries !
This Grapefruit Tart is perfect for a winter celebration. It’s a two-person tart filled with fresh raspberry purée and homemade grapefruit curd! I recently spent way too long testing grapefruit curd recipes. In other words, Chicago weather has gone from wintery weather to “You’re Better … Read More
My favorite grapefruit curd recipe! For this recipe, you’ll simmer down the grapefruit juice slightly to get a more intense citrus flavor in your curd. This recipe is lovely with berries, in cakes or just on toast! Normally I’m a chocolate person. (Strange way to … Read More
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After weeks of indulging in quite the array of decadent desserts, I decided to set aside chocolate for a bit and work on a new seeded sourdough bread recipe. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but I kept getting distracted by chocolate cakes and caramel tarts (as one does)… This week though, I settled in to some sourdough baking and have developed a seeded sourdough loaf.
I’m not actually sure if folding in a mixture of seeds makes this bread any healthier than your average loaf, but it certainly feels healthier, and that’s good enough for me.
You can use any combination of seeds you fancy, but I’ve gone with poppy, sesame, sunflower and fennel. The fennel is slightly random I admit, but it gives a rather lovely flavor to the bread so if you like fennel then give it a try. You could also use pumpkin seeds, chopped nuts, flax seeds etc. Really, whatever you have on hand!
As usual (for me at least) this loaf is smaller than your average sourdough loaf, which is perfect if it’s just two of you at home (like it is for us!)
The overall recipe is a pretty basic sourdough bread recipe, so it’s ideal for anyone knew to sourdough baking. It’s also reasonably similar to my small sourdough loaf, but I’ve increased the hydration slightly which makes for an even lighter loaf. As with most sourdough recipes this is best made over a couple of days so plan ahead a bit and give yourself plenty of time. In this case you make the dough and shape it on day 1 and then bake it on day 2. Letting it rest in the fridge overnight helps develop the sourdough flavor which makes this bread so delicious.
Things to keep in mind:
An active starter: Make sure to feed your starter the evening before you want to make the bread dough. Your starter should be fairly active in the morning with visible bubbles.
Give the dough time to prove: Depending on how cold your kitchen is you may need to let your dough prove for more or less time than I do during the bulk proving stage. The goal is for the dough to have a few visible bubbles on the surface before you go to shape it.
Dutch oven: I almost always bake sourdough in my lodge cast iron dutch oven. I start by baking it with the lid on for 20 minutes, and then remove the lid and let the loaf finish baking uncovered. You can use a baking stone and a tray of hot water in the oven to achieve similar results, but I think that the Dutch Oven is the easiest method.
How to make this seeded sourdough bread:
Step 1: Make the levain (Day 1 – 8 AM)
The morning of Day 1 stir together 15 g of your starter with 15 g of rye, 15 g of bread flour and 30 g of water. Cover the container loosely and let it rest in a warm spot for 4-5 hours.
Step 2: Soak the seeds (Day 1 – 8:15 am)
Pour 30 g of hot water over the poppy seeds, sesame seeds and fennel seeds and let them soak. Feel free to adjust the seeds used depending on your preferences. Maybe you want a seeded sourdough loaf with 12 types of seeds – if so, be my guest!
Step 3: Autolyse (Day 1 – Noon)
Around noon stir together the flour and 190 g of water until the flour is all hydrated. You may need to use your hands to knead the last bits of dry flour into the dough. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or loosely with a lid and leave for an hour.
Step 4: Make the dough (Day 1 – 1 pm)
Add the levain, the salt and 10 g of water to the autolysed flour. Use your fingers to press the additions into the dough and then stretch and fold it a few times in order to combine the ingredients. The dough won’t be smooth at this point, but that’s fine.
Tip the soaked seeds and the sunflower seeds onto the top of the dough and cover the bowl again.
Step 5: Stretch and fold (Day 1 – 1:10 – 3:10 pm)
Stretch and fold the dough every half an hour for two hours (4 sets of stretches). This process will strengthen the dough and incorporate the seeds into it. You may find that it takes a bit of work to incorporate the seeds into the dough during the first set of stretches.
After the final set of stretches cover the bowl loosely and let it prove for 2–3 hours somewhere warm. The dough is ready when you see small bubbles of air along the edges of the bowl. If it still doesn’t show any activity after the 3 hours, leave it for another half an hour to an hour.
Step 7: Shape the dough (Day 1 – 6:10 pm)
Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and loosely shape the dough into a round. Let it rest for ten minutes and then shape it into a loaf or boule depending on the type of loaf you want. If you’ve never done this then my small batch sourdough recipe has more detailed instructions, or you can look for video demonstrations on YouTube which are probably more helpful!
If you’d like to coat the top of the loaf in seeds then simply sprinkle a mixture of seeds on a clean kitchen cloth, wet the top of the loaf lightly, and then flip the dough onto the seed mixture. At this point you can either transfer it to a banneton or wrap the cloth around the dough and transfer it (with the cloth) into a loaf pan or bowl which will act as a proving basket.
Let it sit on the counter for half an hour (unless it’s particularly warm in your kitchen, in which case you can put it straight in the fridge) and then move it to the fridge.
Step 8: Bake the seeded sourdough (Day 2 – 9 am)
Place your dutch oven in the oven and then preheat it 475 F for 40 minutes. Once the oven is almost ready remove the dough from the fridge and flip it onto a piece of parchment paper. Score the dough quickly and then transfer it to the dutch oven. Reduce the temperature to 450 F and bake, covered for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes until the crust is nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow the loaf to cool for at least an hour before slicing.
The seeded sourdough dough ready to be scored and baked. The seeds on top are completely optional but definitely add some nice decoration and texture to the loaf.
Did you like this recipe?
If so, consider sharing on Pinterest or Instagram and tagging @MayasKitchenDaydreams – I always love to see your photos if you baked my recipe!
You can also sign up for my email list to stay informed!
Small Batch Seeded Sourdough Loaf
Feel free to change of the seed mixture! Flax seeds, chopped nuts and pumpkin seeds are also great!
8:00 am: Mix together the levain ingredients, cover loosely and let sit for 5 hours.
8:10 am: Combine seed soaker ingredients in a small bowl and let sit until needed.
Noon: Combine the autolyse ingredients. Mix thoroughly until no dry flour reminas.
1:00 pm: Add the salt, 10 g water and levain to the autolyse and mix by hand to combine thoroughly. Pour the seed soaker and sunflower seeds over the dough and cover the bowl for half an hour.
1:10 – 3:10 pm: Every half hour (4 sets) stretch and fold the dough to mix in the seeds and strengthen the dough. Cover the bowl between sets.
3:10 – 6:10 pm: Leave the covered dough to prove for 2 to 3 hours somewhere warm.
6:10 pm: Shape the dough. Start by loosely shaping in a round, leave for 10 minutes then shape into a batard or a boule. Dampen the top of the dough and top with more seeds if you want. Place the dough (seam side up, smooth side down) in a proving basket, leave at room temperature for half an hour and then place in the fridge overnight.
Day 2:
Place the dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 475 for 40 minutes. Invert the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and score the dough. Bake covered in the dutch oven for 20 minutes and then lower the temperature to 450 and bake uncovered for a further 10 – 15 minutes. Let cool for an hour.
Keyword Bread, seeded sourdough, Small Batch, small loaf, Sourdough
A fantastic Christmas dessert that’s gluten-free and easy to adapt. Make this yule log for you holiday celebrations! My family falls solidly in the We-Have-Christmas-Traditions-and-You-Had-Better-Follow-Them camp. We always sing Christmas carols off key (the off-key part is optional but generally true). We eat fish on … Read More
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Easy sourdough discard donuts that are perfect for using up leftover sourdough starter. This recipe makes just three donuts, so it’s a perfect small batch recipe!
This site contains affiliate links, which means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links. However, please know that I only provide links to products that I actually use and wholeheartedly recommend!
Let’s talk about donuts. I used to hate donuts. Like, genuinely did not get the hype. An unpopular opinion, I know.
Fortunately, I grew up and learned that donuts are beautiful and should be consumed regularly.
About a year ago I decided to make donuts for the first time ever and decided to make sourdough donuts. This means my first foray into donut baking was a 3-day affair that resulted in more than a dozen donuts.
They were delicious, but they were also quite the involved affair, and we had way too many donuts.
I decided to fix this problem by developing a small scale recipe.
I still wanted the sourdough flavor, so I added in some sourdough starter discard. I’ve also used yeast, which means that these rise in a couple of hours instead of a couple of days. This recipe makes 3 donuts, so two for you and one for a friend. Or two for you and another one for you.
Honestly, developing this recipe was a saga and a half. I fed Loml so many bad donuts before I settled on this recipe… But now you don’t have to go through dozens of bad donuts, you can just eat the good ones!
Easy: The dough is a really simple one that is pretty sturdy, which means that they rise pretty reliably.
Small batch: This recipe makes just 3 little donuts, which is awesome if you live alone or with just one other person.
Sourdough Discard Recipe: This recipe uses sourdough discard, which is excellent if you make a lot of sourdough like me and are trying to find ways to use up that excess.
How to make these sourdough donuts:
How to make these delicious sourdough donuts (some steps – but not all of them because apparently, I forgot to get my camera out when it came time to fry…) Top left – Step1: make a complete mess of the kitchen table such that Loml can’t actually sit at the table to work. Top right – Step 2: Use a standing mixer to bring the dough together and knead it until you get a nice soft dough. Bottom left – Step 3: After the dough has proved roll it out and cut out your donuts Bottom Right – Step 4: Transfer them to a tray and let them prove again.
1) Mix the dough
Start by proofing the yeast with sugar and warm water. Once it’s foaming combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer and knead it for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Note: if you don’t have a sourdough starter you can still make these, just increase the milk by 10 ml and the flour by 10 grams and then leave out the sourdough starter discard.
2) Proof and shape the donuts
Let the dough rise for an hour until it’s about double in size. At this point, you can tip out the dough and roll it out till it’s 1/2 inch thick.
Using a 3 inch round cutter, cut out the donuts and place them on a floured baking tray. Cover the tray and let the donuts rise for two hours until they are nice and puffy looking.
3) Fry the sourdough donuts
Frying is kind of a pain in my opinion. It’s messy, it smells bad, and you’re left with a massive pot of hot oil at the end. That being said, sometimes you just need a homemade donut and so you put up with the whole frying thing.
There are a few things that make it a little easier.
First, you really do need a thermometer.
Second, get your paper towels ready to go next to your frying station so it’s easy to transfer donuts from the hot oil to the paper towels.
Third, continuously remind yourself that you are doing this for the donuts and the donuts will be worth it.
Now that you’re mentally prepared to fry let’s talk about pans. I always fry in a cast iron dutch oven so that’s what I would recommend.
(Mine is from Lodge and it’s awesome. Loml gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago and brought it from New York to Michigan in his suitcase. He’s a little crazy like that)
I like the cast iron because it retains heat really well which means that it’s easier to control the temperature of the oil. It’s also important to make sure you use enough oil – you want a good couple of inches of oil in your pan. Again, using more oil means that the temperature of the oil won’t fluctuate as much, which makes it easier to control the frying temperature.
So fill the pan with a couple of inches of oil and heat to 360 F. While the oil is heating, combine the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl so that you can toss the donuts in the sugar when you’re done frying. Fry the donuts for a few minutes on each side, let them drain, and then toss them in the sugar. Fill them with whatever you’re in the mood for (or just eat them as is)!
The Ultimate Sourdough Discard Donuts
This recipe makes 3 lovely little donuts and uses sourdough discard to give them a great flavor. I haven't explicitly included a filling recipe here but I'd recommend raspberry jam, flavored whipped cream, or a chocolate ganache!
Mix together the yeast, warm water, and 5 g of sugar in a small bowl and set aside until foamy (5 minutes or so).
Combine all of the ingredients and the active yeast in the bowl of a standing mixer. Use the hook attachment to mix the ingredients together a bit before you hook the dough hook up to your standing mixer.
Then knead the dough with a standing mixer set to medium for 5 minutes until you have a smooth dough. At this point, it will be quite soft and tacky but not overly sticky.
Let the dough rest for an hour in a covered bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter. Gently roll the dough out till it's 1/2 an inch thick and use a 3 inch round cutter to cut out donuts. I always have to re-roll my dough for every donut… so don't worry if you have to as well! Place the cut donuts on a floured baking sheet. Cover the baking sheet and let them rest fortwo hours until they’re nicely puffed. Note: If your kitchen is particularly cold you can let them rise in the oven with the oven light switched on.
When you’re ready to fry heat the oil in a large dutch oven to 360 F and combine the cinnamon (or cardamom) and sugar in a bowl.
Gently lower the donuts into the oil using a slotted spoon. Fry for 2.5 minutes on each side. Keep an eye on the oil temperature, you may need to raise the temp if the oil cools too much or lower it if the donuts are browning too quickly.
Remove the donuts from the oil and let them drain for a few minutes on paper towels. Once they've drained toss them in the cinnamon sugar (or cardamom sugar). Once they’ve cooled slightly you can fill them with jam if you’d like by poking a hole in the donuts and using a piping bag to fill them. If you don’t want jam donuts you could fill them with chocolate ganache, whipped cream, or really whatever your heart desires!
Notes
* If you don’t have a sourdough starter you can still make these, just substitute and extra 10 grams of flour and 10 ml of milk in place of the starter.
A mini 4-inch chocolate cake without eggs that can easily be made vegan. This two person cake is perfect for a mini celebration or as a two person birthday cake. When I was little, tea time was a ritual. My mum and I would bake … Read More