Dorie Greenspan’s Miso-Maple Loaf
from BAKING WITH DORIE: Sweet, Salty & Simple (Mariner/HarperCollins, 2021)
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I f I owned a bed and breakfast, I’d make this my signature treat. Sturdy, coarse-crumbed (I say this with admiration) and on the brink of savory, the loaf is reminiscent of many crowd-pleasers. It may make you think of honey cake, but in the end, it will never be anything other than itself—it’s an original.The miso and maple are less stand-out individual players than they are a team working together to create flavors that are robust, warm and mysterious. And, along with the recipe’s buttermilk, their moistness contributes to the cake’s lovely crumb. I prefer white (shiro) miso here, but if you’re looking for a stronger flavor, you can use red. You can also switch the orange or tangerine zest for lemon, if you’d like. -Dorie Greenspan |
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PrintDorie Greenspan’s Miso Maple Loaf
Dorie Greenspan's Miso-Maple Loaf from her cookbook BAKING WITH DORIE: Sweet, Salty & Simple (Mariner/HarperCollins, 2021).
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 21 1x
- Category: Breakfast, Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Scale
For the cake
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1¾ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ fine sea salt
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange or tangerine
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup white miso
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup buttermilk (well shaken before measuring)
For the glaze (optional)
- About 1/4 cup orange marmalade or apricot jam
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8½-inch loaf pan and dust with flour, or use baker’s spray.
- Put the sugar, salt, and zest in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl that you can use with a hand mixer. Reach in and rub the ingredients together until the sugar is moist and fragrant; it may even turn orange. Add the butter, miso, and maple syrup to the bowl. If using a stand mixer, attach the bowl and fit it with the paddle attachment.
- Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl and beater(s) as needed, until you’ve got a smooth, creamy mixture. One by one, add the eggs, beating for a minute after each goes in. Beat in the vanilla. The mixture might curdle, but this is a temporary condition. Turn off the mixer, add the dry ingredients all at once and then pulse to begin the blending. Beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are almost incorporated. With the mixer still on low, pour in the buttermilk and blend well. Scrape the batter into the pan, working it into the corners and smoothing the top.
- Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, checking the loaf after 40 minutes and covering the top loosely with a foil or parchment tent if it’s browning too fast. The loaf is properly baked when it pulls away from the sides of the pan and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The top will be flat and most likely cracked down the middle. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the bread rest for 5 minutes, then run a table knife around the edges of the loaf and unmold onto the rack; turn it right side up.
- IF YOU’D LIKE TO GLAZE THE LOAF: Stir the marmalade or jam and water together and heat the mixture in the microwave or over low heat until it comes just to a boil. Using a pastry brush (or a spoon), cover the top of the loaf with the glaze.
Allow the loaf to cool to room temperature before slicing.
STORING: Wrapped well, the cake will keep for about 4 days at room temperature. If it stales—or maybe even if it doesn’t—toast it lightly before serving. If you haven’t glazed it, you can wrap it airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months; defrost, still wrapped, at room temperature.
Keywords: MIso Maple Loaf