Wine Bread

Around here we are awash in wine and wine-related things. There are wine auctions, wine road events, grape harvest news and more. One of the trainers at the gym is going to intern next month and the following one at a winery; going out into the various blocks of vines and taking samples, then checking for sugar levels and grapes per cluster count and recording all of the findings in a database. Sounds like fun!

Even more fun was the Bread Baking Babes bread for July. Astrid of Paulchen's Foodblog was our Babe of the month and she gave us a lovely bread to make which is flavored with sweet white wine; Rheinbrot. I didn't actually use a Riesling as the recipe required, but found a lovely white Moscato instead. The poolish did carry the fragrance of the Moscato at first, and I can detect a bit of the flavor in the finished bread, which we had with our dinner tonight. As an aproned and pantied Babe I was supposed to have made the bread and posted by July 16th, but at least I finished it in time to be with the Buddies...an honorable place to be. The bread is light and has lot of holes, is moist but not too much so, and the flour I used gave some texture as well as hearty flavor.

One of the thing I noticed when I read the posts of those who had already baked the bread was that it lent itself to variations. For my variation I used King Arthur Flour's Irish whole meal flour instead of bread flour for the roughly two cups that are added to the poolish...and I used Lien's poolish recipe, too. Mine actually sat for over 24 hours, enriched after 10 hours with another 1/3 cup bread flour mixed with 1/3 cup water. The reason was that I had planned poorly and wasn't around when the dough needed attention on Sunday if I wanted to bake it for last night's dinner. It all worked out in the end because it was chilly enough tonight to warm up the kitchen for the baking.

My only regret was that I tried to use my banneton, just as Lien had. Imagine my consternation when I went to turn the risen dough out to bake when I found that it had welded itself to the coils of the basket! Yes, I had used copious amounts of flour on the basket before adding the dough. I suspect, seeing the large holes in the finished bread, that the dough was just too wet for the basket treatment. You can see in the photo below the remains of the floured parts that had stuck...it adds an interesting texture, doesn't it?

Despite the lack of shapeliness, this lovely bread was delicious! Thank you Astrid for choosing this recipe. Although I love to sip wine as I eat bread, I never would have thought to bake a bread with wine. I also hope you will add me to the Buddy round-up. Better late than never, right?

Rheinbrot(makes one large loaf)

Sponge:
50 gram semisweet Riesling
50 gram boiled water, at room temperature
100 gram flour
50 gram of wheat sourdough at 100% hydration

Dough
250 gram flour (I used 250 grams Irish whole meal flour)
135 gram water
6 gram salt

1) Mix wine with water and add the sourdough, whisk thoroughly
.
2) Add flour and mix again.

3) The dough ferments at 2 stages:

3a) 4 hours at a temperature 30-32°C, it should grow at least twice its size, will be lumpy looking at this stage and have larger and smaller bubbles. If you stick your nose into the container, the scent will be somewhat unpleasant, it may even seem that the dough has deteriorated. Don't panic, this only means the dough is doing the right things ;o)

3b) Pour the sponge in a bowl and whisk thoroughly to remove all the gas out of it and fill it with oxygen. Cover with foil and let sit for 10-12 hours (overnight) at room temperature. Dough will rise again in half and very often shows smaller bubbles.

4) Now the sponge is ready for kneading: pour in the water and stir until smooth. Add the flour, mix well and give the autolysis a chance to do it's magic for 40-50 minutes.

5) add the salt and quickly knead the dough, if it is too sticky add a little four, but be careful not to add too much.

6) Let ferment for 2-2.5 hours. Fold twice after 1 hour and 1 1/2 hour. The dough smells fresh now, no smell of the wine.

7) Form a loaf and let proof in a basket for 1 1/2 hours (doubles in size) covered with a towel in a draft free place.

8) Preheat oven to 240°C.

9) Transfer dough to your baking sheet. Make an incision or two and let it slide on your baking stone.

10) Bake for 10 minutes with steam and without steam like 20 minutes at 200°C.

11) Let cool down for alt least half an hour before slicing the bread.

My notes: I didn't use a sourdough but a poolish:
poolish
75 g sweet white wine (I used Moscato)
75 g water
150 g bread flour
1/4 tsp dry yeast
I left this stand (covered) overnight for approx. 24 hours.
I continued with the recipe as above (except for the change of flour) and added another 1/4 tsp in the dough.

Pesto to the Rescue

Everything is going so well with the entry project that I'm not really complaining, but, gee it takes a lot of time to do construction!

Yesterday we removed the old door frame, along with the expandable foam insulation, flashing above, old shims and tar paper. Sweetie did most of the heavy stuff and I scraped off old insulation and did the demo on the flashing and tar paper. Took a good chunk of the day. Thank heavens for things like pre-packaged chili seasoning and already made pesto.

 Last night we had my well-loved chili, but the night we had that awesome cheese and cherry tomato salad, we also had a super quick chicken pesto pasta dish. Could never have gotten both on the table without that Fircrest pesto. There were also the quick-fix helpers of fresh pasta from the store, frozen already-grilled chicken, and our own zucchini. Zucchini are so easy to prepare...no peeling!

So while the pasta water came to a boil, the sliced zucchini browned in a cast iron skillet. Once the zucchini came out, in went the frozen chicken strips and chunks. I let them brown, then removed them to sit with the zucchini while I browned some pine nuts. Once the pasta was done and drained, it was easy to put the hot pasta, green pesto, and a little of the pasta cooking water into a bowl and stir to coat the pasta with the pesto. A quick re-heat for a minute in the microwave made sure that the squash and chicken were hot. Into the past bowl they went, along with the pine nuts. After a quick stir to combine it all, I served it up and we enjoyed a fairly gourmet entrée that had taken only about 15 minutes to make.

It's a good recipe for hot weather, too, because you don't really heat up the kitchen much in 15 minutes. If we weren't having that salad with it I would have tossed some halved cherry tomatoes into the pasta at the end.

Pronto Pesto Chicken Pasta with Zucchini and Pine Nuts
Serves 2 - 4
1/2 cup prepared pesto (or to taste) at room temperature
1 package (8 oz.) fresh fettuccini
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 medium zucchini, ends trimmed, cut into slices
2 cups chicken strips and chunks, pre-cooked and grilled, thawed if frozen
3-4 tablespoons pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste

Stir pesto to mix in oil. Set aside.

In a large pot bring water to a boil.

While water is coming to a boil, heat the oil in a large skillet. Brown the zucchini slices in the oil over medium-high heat, turning so that all sides brown as much as possible. Remove from skillet when brown and set aside. If pasta water is boiling, add fresh pasta and set timer for 10 minutes.

Without cleaning the skillet, add the chicken and brown it, about 5 minutes, stirring often. When browned and heated through, remove from skillet and set aside.

Without cleaning the skillet, add pine nuts to the skilled and, stirring frequently, brown them. Take care not because they can go from golden brown to burnt very quickly. Remove from skillet and set aside.

By now the pasta should be cooked. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Place squash and chicken on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 1 minutes.

Place drained pasta in a large, wide bowl. Add the pesto and a tablespoon of the cooking water. Stir. Add more water if necessary so that pesto coats the pasta. Add the heated squash and chicken and the pine nuts. Toss to combine. Serve at once.

Cherry Tomato Is One Of Five Ingredients

Some days it is so wonderful to have something easy to serve for dinner. After a good portion of a day spent installing flashing and siding, Sweetie and I were certainly hungry, but not full of energy. As the sun set behind the trees

it was time to create a fast feast. I started with tomatoes, already picked. So far the only tomatoes I've gotten from the many I planted are the cherry type. The most numerous are orange, a few are red, and a few are yellow.

 I based this recipe on one in the latest Bon Appetit magazine (August 2013) because I had the tomatoes and olive oil and sea salt and last time I was at the appropriate store, I had made sure to purchase the burrata and fresh basil once I saw the recipe, knowing that I would make it pretty soon.

This is one of those recipes that you won't make often if you value your health since the cheese is very rich, but it is the perfect indulgence when the tomatoes finally ripen. It also goes together fast and is impressive, so keep it in mind for your next dinner party or on a day when the kids have worn you out. You can use mozzarella di bufala (made with buffalo milk I think) instead of the burrata...Bon Appetit did. You can also add a few chunks of seedless watermelon for some crunch and another flavor and have six ingredients. Don't be tempted to use dried basil...fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, good quality olive oil and sea salt, plus a lovely, rich, runny cheese are important components.

It looks pretty, too. Since we eat with our eyes first, that counts!

Five Ingredient Cherry Tomato Salad

1 ball of mozzarella di bufala or burrata
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
about 2 tablespoons fresh basil, in chiffonade or chopped
2-3 tablespoons best quality olive oil
a sprinkle of sea salt to taste

Shred or spread the cheese on a serving plate. Top with the tomatoes, basil, olive oil and salt. Let sit 10 minutes so the flavors can mingle. Serve. It's that easy!
Serves 4 - 6.

Assertive Citrus Chicken

I grew up to be a shy person, up until I went to college. No one would have called me assertive. It came as quite a revelation to me, when I finally shed my shy behaviors and blossomed, that being assertive could be fun. Understand, I'm still shy inside, I just don't behave that way. I suspect that there are a lot of people who do the same.

Ducks and geese are very assertive, but chickens seem to mostly be silly. Recently Sweetie and I took care of our neighbor's flock of chickens, all 30 strong, and had the devil of a time getting them to go into the hen house at night, not because they were being assertive but because they were being distracted by the goat who wanted to play with all of us. One of us would chase them toward the door and the other would try to keep the goat away and wave the chickens into the doorway at the same time. I'm sure it would have been a hit on YouTube if anyone had filmed it.

A good time for a chicken to be assertive is when it is cooked. In this recipe the fairly forward flavors of cilantro, garlic, scallions, citrus and soy join up in a marinade for chicken thighs that is full of zestiness but not heat. I served it with steamed rice and steamed broccoli. The marinade went pretty well with those, too. There is an Asian sensibility to the marinade that I really enjoyed. The flavorful crispy skin was a nice bite of luxury, too.

As with many recipes I made a few changes. For one thing it has been a warm day. Sweetie offered to grill the chicken, instead of broiling it, to keep the kitchen cooler. Had my vote! I also found that I only had half a lime, so I added extra orange juice and zest for plenty of citrusness. I used a sharp knife to cut strips of the citrus zest and let the food processor chop them up instead of zesting the skin.  The finished chicken was pretty salty, so next time I'll cut back on the salt some. I also marinated it for about 4 hours, but it was absolutely delicious (other than salty), so that is not a problem.

I think that this recipe could easily be doubled if you are going to have  a larger group than 4. With those assertive flavors, the piece we have left over will probably taste even better tomorrow.

 

Citrus Marinated Chicken Thighs
from Bon Appetit magazine, Aug. 2013

"An aggressively seasoned marinade delivers big flavor"

1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems only, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 lb. bone-in chicken thighs with skin left on

Set aside 1/4 cup of the sliced scallions for garnish.

Pulse cilantro, garlic, zests, juices, soy sauce, oil and salt and remaining scallions (green onions)in a food processor or blender until a coarse puree forms. Set aside 1/4 cup of the marinade. Place the remaining marinade in a large reseal able plastic bag. Add chicken, seal bag, and turn to coat. Chill at least 20 minutes. If chilling longer (up to 2 hours ahead), occasionally turn bag over to redistribute the marinade. Keep chilled.

Preheat broiler or prepare grill. Remove chicken from marinade and dispose of used marinade. To broil, place chicken, skin side down,  on a foil-lined broiler-proof baking sheet. Broil chicken until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Turn pieces over and continue to broil until cooked through. An instant read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 165 degrees F. - 12 - 15 minutes longer. To cook on grill, place chicken pieces, skin side down on prepared grill and grill 5 minutes. Turn and grill until cooked through, about 12 - 15 minutes longer. Use same technique as above to test for doneness.

Serve chicken with reserved marinade and sprinkle on the scallions. Serves 4.

A Tale of Castles and a Kid

It all started when a boy was stealing some CDs from a music store.  On the way out of the store a cop came by and arrested Cris for stealing. When they got to the station Cris had to call his parents, who were so angry with him that he had to go to juvenile hall.

Cris had to go to a school almost like boot camp.  When and if they had free time they had to go to classes to learn about the law and all the penalties for breaking the law.

That night, while Cris was lying in his bunk, a weird-looking man came up to the window. “Hey you, wanna get outta here?”

 “Heck, yeah.”

 “Then follow me.”

 “I can’t just walk outta here!”

 “Yes you can.”

 “How?”

 “Just start walking towards me and don’t stop.”

 “That’s crazy, I’ll run right into the wall.”

 “If you want to get out of here you will have to trust me.”

 “I’ll do it just to get out of here.” As he was walking towards the wall he started disappearing. “Hey what the heck is happening to me?”

“Don’t worry, just keep walking.”  As soon as he was through the wall he started to reappear.

 “Now that I’m out of here, take me home.”

 “Hold it, you can’t just go home.”

 “What? I can still go home.”

 “No you can’t.  Your mom and dad will send you back and you will have to stay with all the other kids at juvenile for a longer period of time.”

 “What about me.”

 “What about you.”

 “The guards will notice me gone.”

 “Don’t worry about that.  I can make a clone of you.  The clone will do whatever it needs to stay out of trouble.  Plus it will go to all it needs to go to for three weeks.”

 “So what do we do for three weeks?”

 “You have to stay with me unless you want to go back.”

“No way!”

 “Okay then, get in the car.”

 As soon as he got in and sat in the back seat, a seatbelt strapped over Cris without him touching it. “Hey, what the heck is going on?”

 “Don’t worry, it’s just to protect you from flying through the back window.”

 “What are you talking about?”

 “It won’t happen, so shut up.”  On the inside of the car there were a lot of buttons and switches in the front.

 “Why are there so many buttons and switches up there?”

 “This car is a time machine.”

 “Then if this is actually a time machine, can we go back to the time of Al Capone?”

 “No!  We are going to the time Kidwelly castle was a very high ruling castle.”

 “Why are we going to a castle?”

 “To teach you about crime and helping other people instead of getting into trouble all the time.”

 As they started out of the alley the weird-looking guy began punching buttons, then letters and numbers started appearing on the windshield.  When they started gaining speed, the front of the car caught on fire.

 ‘Hey! The front of the car is on fire.”

 “No it’s not. Now be quiet.” In front of the car a blue circle appeared.  Almost exactly at the same time the car practically jumped into a portal.

 “Hey, what happened?”

 “We jumped into a portal to get to Kidwelly castle.”

 “Oh.  What’s your name, anyway?”

 “Mac.” “It’s not my name, but call me Mac anyway.”

 “How long will it take us to get to Kidsmelly?”

 “It’s Kidwelly, and I don’t know how long it will take.” As soon as he finished talking, they were in Kidwelly in the middle of a joust.

 

“They’re gonna run right over us!”

 “No they won’t; the horses will be so frightened they will stop dead in their tracks.”  And they did. As Cris and Mac were getting out of the car the jousters began charging them again.

 “They’re gonna hit us.”

 “No, they won’t, because I have a gun.”

 “What are you going to do, shoot them?”

 “Maybe.  Just watch and see.” Instead of shooting the jousters like Cris thought he would, he just shot up in the air and the jousters on their horses started running away from Cris and Mac.  Right after he shot the gun, the King stood up and proclaimed, “I pronounce you the victors of the jousting match.”

 

“You are now Sir…”

 “Cris”

 “Sir Cris and Sir…”

 “Mac”

 “Sir Mac.  I invite you to attend our annual jousting celebration dinner tonight.”

While Cris and Mac were standing in front of the constables and the King, he ordered the constables to show Cris and Mac to their rooms, which were adjoining.  Each of the rooms had a fireplace, and a table with a huge bowl of fruit in the middle of it.  After about two hours in the rooms, a butler brought them each something to drink.  About an hour after that a constable came into the rooms and told them to come to the jousters banquet.

 

When they got to the banquet they were in a huge room with one long table covered with more food than Cris had ever seen in his life.  The constable showed them to their seats, which were right next to the King’s and were very comfortable.

 The banquet lasted two or three hours, during which time there were jugglers, jesters and minstrels between food courses.  After the banquet was completely over, Cris and Mac were escorted back to their rooms.

 In the fireplaces the fires had been lit.  The beds were even more comfortable than the one he had at home.

 The next day Cris was awakened by loud noises and people screaming.  Cris ran to the King’s quarters and pounded on the door but nobody answered.  Next he went to Mac’s room and pounded on the door.  Mac came running to the door. “What’s the matter?”

 “Don’t you hear all the noises?”

 “Yeah so we’re under attack – what’s the big deal?”

 “What’s the big deal! We could die!”

 “We will not die if we stay in the castle.” Just as he said, “castle”, a constable came running and told Mac to come and suit up.

 “I don’t need to suit up.  I have a gun to shoot the enemy.”

 “It’s your choice, but I sug-“

 “Suggest nothing.  I do not need to suit up.”

 “Mac, I want to come with you.”

 “You may come with me under one condition.”

 “What?”

 “Don’t get hurt!”

 “Yes sir, captain, sir.”

 Mac took a spot in an arrow loop from which to shoot his gun at the enemies.  Cris was watching all the dying and dead brave and noble knights who had risked their lives to defend their castle.  Just as it started getting dark, Mac was shot by an arrow that he didn’t see coming.

 “Mac! Don’t die on me now.”

 “If I die the instructions to the time machine are in the glove box in the front.”

 “Somebody help me, quick.“ Just then a couple of knights picked Mac up and carried him away.

 “Where are you taking him?”

 “To the physician to see if he can keep him alive.”

 Over the next few days the battle raged on.  After about a week and a half it finally stopped.  Over that week and a half Mac was recovering well.  “Mac, how long will you be here?”

 “Not too much longer.””

 “Okay.”  That night Mac was back in his own room alive and well.

 The next day Mac and Cris went into town to see what the people outside the castle were like.  Cris was watching everybody very carefully’ then he saw somebody steal some food and that reminded him about stealing things.  He thought that if he stole coins and jewels and brought them home, he could sell them for lots of money.  The next day he got up really early, went into the town, and started grabbing priceless gems and other items that would be priceless in the future.  The next day he woke up at the same time to return to town and began taking gems and jewels again.  All of a sudden a guard yelled at him to stop. Cris started running but the guard caught him and brought him before the king. The King was very surprised to see that Cris was stealing from his Kingdom. “For the rest of your time here I sentence you to manual labor.”

 “Manual labor? What kind of manual labor?”

 “Shining armor, shoveling horse manure, sewing dresses for the ladies.”

 “SEW! I don’t know how to sew.”

 “Sorry. You will have to deal with it or get executed.”

 For the next few days he had to do whatever the King ordered. On his last day of the trip he went to the King and asked if he could leave. “Yes, you can leave, you have done an exceptional job at what you had to do, so I am now excusing you to leave with Mac to your home village.”

 “Thank you, your Majesty. Where’s Mac?”

 “He is in the courtyard getting ready for the trip home.”

 “Maybe we will see each other again sometime.  Oh, and thank you.”

 “You’re welcome and we’ll see each other again.”

 When Cris got to the car Mac was packing and fueling the car with garbage for the trip home. “Get in quickly so we can leave.”

 “Okay, coming.” After they got back and resolved everything with his parents, Cris became a time traveler and took over the car when Mac passed away.

 THE END

 

This story was written by my son Max when he was in middle school. It was before the Harry Potter books were written, which is interesting given the way that Cris escapes from the juvenile facility. It reminds me of the train station in Harry Potter and getting to the train that goes to the school. The story was certainly influenced by the movie Back to the Future.

Hope you enjoyed it.

 

Back to food blogging soon, I hope.

I am Woman, Hear Me Hammer!

Working hard on the project..and not much else. You should also see me pry old siding and nails off the side of the house...demo queen!

A Special Birthday Girl

You probably know someone like her. She always thinks of others first. She has a huge heart, a love of family and community, makes sure that her neighbors are OK, works hard, and is a stellar friend. She is the kind of woman who doesn't expect thanks or recognition. She has a wicked sense of humor and a ready laugh. She uses her talents to enrich the lives of those she cares for.

I've been blessed with her friendship and she introduced me to the women's scholarship group I enjoy so much, P.E.O. We were soccer Moms before that and share a love of working with our hands and a skill for working with paperwork that drives others slightly mad.

Today I joined another mutual friend and Pam for a birthday lunch. We had delicious sandwiches and salad...and birthday cake of course.

I made the Perfect Party Cake, although I used whole eggs instead of egg whites, reducing the buttermilk by 2 tablespoons to keep the liquid proportions about right. I wanted a small cake since there were only three of us, so I used a metal cookie tin as the cake pan. Worked like a charm! The rest of the batter I baked up in a loaf pan for another use.

For the icing I used my favorite buttercream recipe, replacing the rum and mocha with some strawberry syrup I had on hand. With a few drops of red food color added, it was pretty and pink.

Since it was a small cake I cut it in half to make two layers...three layers would have been too much. The bottom cut side was given a nice thin layer of raspberry jam. Then I used a pastry bag to squirt buttercream over the jam, added the top layer of cake and frosted the whole thing with buttercream. Using the star tip, I added decorative edging and a few frosting stars on top for securing fresh raspberries. A final sprinkle of white, pink and red heart decors and the cake was ready to go.

 At the party I added some birthday candles (but have no photos since I left my camera at home by mistake).

Pam was delighted! She had no idea that I was baking her a cake. There was even a piece left over for Sweetie, who had been hard at work at home on the entry project.

So, if you have a friend like Pam, surprise her with this cute cake. It doesn't even have to be her birthday. You'll be glad you did... she will know that she is as cared for as those she takes care of.

Real Pound Cake

For the 4th of July weekend we joined some family in the lovely town of Healdsburg on the Russian River. It gave us an opportunity to visit with family from the L.A. area and to meet the newest member of the family. I was asked to bring dessert (what a surprise). I knew it might be hot since we had 5 or 6 straight days of very hot weather, which is unusual for us. I decided that cold seasonal fruit, real pound cake and some whipped cream would be just the thing.

For the fruit I brought a mixture of ripe and juicy white peaches, cool fresh blueberries, and tangy sweet red raspberries. It fit the 4th of July theme and that combination tastes great together, too.

For the pound cake I use a recipe from a cookbook I've had around for ages, Jim Fobel's Old Fashioned Baking Book. The recipes are classics. This one is for Aunt Irma's Pound Cake. It makes one loaf and used two sticks of butter and 5 eggs, so you know it will have richness. There are two teaspoons of vanilla, so you know it will be flavorful. It is as fine crumbed as your Sara Lee pound cake, but less dry and much tastier. It really goes together quickly, but it takes over an hour in the oven to bake, so plan ahead. It made the perfect base for s few scoops of the fruit and a squirt of whipped cream. I tried a slice yesterday lightly toasted and that was good, too. The one photo I was able to take at the party is not very good, but it's all gone now, so it will have to do.

Sweetie and I are currently hard at work and sort of in the middle of a home project. I find that I have very little time or energy to bake or blog (or even to cook much). That means that this blog is going to have few posts this month. Do check in around the 16th/17th because I should have one about then.

In the meantime, I leave you, dear reader, with the knowledge that there are indeed hundreds of recipes posted in the past.

The two that are most requested seem to be Lemon Chicken for a Crowd and an oldie-but-goodie, Spinach Rice Casserole from the Moosewood Cookbook series. I find myself looking up Creamy Coleslaw Dressing and Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies most often. There are recipes for Appetizers, Beverages, a whole bunch of bread, cake, cookie, and pie recipes, some dinner ones like Sweetie's favorite Guinness Beef and Mushroom Pie, plus the most requested seasonal recipe, How to Color Easter Eggs. There are great ones for pasta, veggies, and soup. I bet you find a few that will become your favorites.

So while I'm hard at work, you can wander around my recipe listing...with lots of scrolling down. Just click on the rust colored tablecloth photo with place setting. On a tablet or smart phone you may need to scroll to the bottom of my posts and hit View Web Version or something like that to allow the recipe link to show up. Have fun! Try something new to you...and let me know how you liked it, O.K.?

So here is the Pound Cake recipe to start with:

Aunt Irma's Pound Cake
Jim Fobel's Old Fashioned Baking Book
Makes one loaf

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pan. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt over a sheet of waxed paper or into a large bowl.
In a large mixing bowl beat the butter until fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar until blended. One at a time, beat in the eggs. Scrape bowl and beater often. Once the eggs are blended in, add the vanilla and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat just until smooth.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the top peaks and turns golden brown, about 1 hour and 15 minutes (although it could be sooner, so check cake at about one hour...and turn pan in oven if needed for even browning.) When cake is done the top will spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out of the pan and place upright on the rack and cool thoroughly. Slice and serve.