sourdough honey cake

Hi Sharon (Sarah Chana)

Thanks so much for the suggestion. I googled it and definitely can start "cobbling". I have some good rye flour, some raw buckwheat honey (kind of silly since it will bake, but I assume that being raw it will have some extra fermentive action) and will start tonight.

Must be a Jewish grandmother thing. Mine never gave out a complete recipe--always left an ingredient out. We also had in my family a "big Aunt Ruthie" and a "honey-cake Aunt Ruthie"--that's how good her honey cake was, poor big Aunt Ruthie was just very, very tall. I was never able to get HCAR's recipe, but through sheer force of nostalgic memory I was able to recreate it. Aging it was part of the good taste. Like aging a fruit cake.

Anyway, except for sourdough, we almost never eat any flour products and no sweeteners except dried dates or fresh fruit, and the occasional splurge with agave or raw honey. I am sorry to hear about your gluten allergy. You might think about helping to start a section on this web site for gluten free/sugar or sweetener free baking. I do lots of raw foods, and make amazing pies and cookies sweetened with raisins or dates and no flour. Can you eat nuts? Can you eat cacao or cocoa (unsweetened)? I got a great recipe (no amounts, just ingredients) for a chocolate coconut/pecan cake with creamy chocolate icing and the icing is made from ripe avacado, cocoa or raw cacao powder, dates and vanilla bean. No one can tell what its made of.

Anyway, L'Shana Tova!

CR

Hi,

Went ahead, recipeless and made a sourdough honey cake. With rye and uncooked (not raw, but unboiled) buckwheat honey and organic Meyer lemon peel. It is amazing--usually, honey cake needs to age for at least a few weeks, but this tasted great-complex, rich, tangy-- right after it cooled. However, my photo files are 3 mb each. Does anyone have any ideas how they can be resized in order to post them?

Thanks.

P.S. I admit, though I didn't get the camera specifically to post photos--I needed it for work--I did have the idea of posting bread photos on The Fresh Loaf in the back of my mind. I think  last year all those photos helped keep me going during the winter months.

Hmmm. The photo isn't so great, but thank you for resizing tips. (I don't have Windows XP so tried something else.).

Hi Ross,

My measurements are approximate. I gave you brand names when I could. I gave hunks out. Everyone ate it up.

1 heaping cup approximately 100 percent hydration sourdough starter (made with KA AP flour and water, reconsituted from a much dryer and quite sour, starter)

1  heaping cup uncooked (not totally raw) buckwheat honey--the one I got wasn't quite as dark as usual--I was told the bees also went to other flours.

Mix and let ferment for 2-3 days.

Beat in 2 eggs. (One of mine had a double yolk, so it was really 3 yolks.) I wasn't going to use eggs as I don't usually eat them and bake vegan almost all the time, but I am glad I relented.

1/2 cup xvirgin olive oil (you could use sunflower/other veg without radically changing the flavor)

Heaping 1/2 cup sucanat (I was going to use agave, but it looked too moist already)

2 1/2 to 3 cups Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye Flour

Mixture of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardomom  to taste. (Cloves would be good too, didn't have any).

Pinch Celtic Sea Salt

I mixed by hand.

Then I added grated peel from an organic meyer lemon. This part is very yummy.

Poured in parchment paper lined rectangular pan (not loaf pan) and baked in preheated 325 oven for 1 1/2 hours. My oven runs low, so this might be more like 300.

It tasted well-aged, right out of the oven.

Let me know how it turns out and if you had any improvements or variations.

Next time I make a cake (I usually just bake bread) I think I will  try a sourdough rye/white whole wheat cake next, with poppy seeds, orange peel, and ground almonds.

chayarivka