Apple Tart Bread

It will come as no surprise that I find baking to be very therapeutic. Especially, when I bake in the morning and the light in my kitchen is bright and golden and the house is quiet, quiet except for the rustle of leaves outside or the quick spatter of someone's footsteps. I don't get to do this often (unfortunately, my full time job intrudes), but when I do, I treasure it. It's my time, as much mine as I can make it. The magic that happens here is mine alone and mine to share.

I hope you are not yet sick of apple cakes, because I am offering another one from this website that has quickly become one of my favorites since I discovered it a short time ago. What I really wanted to do was make an apple pie. However, I have sort of a phobia of apple pies and I have never baked one before, and that morning was not the one for experimenting. You see, even though I have spent most of my life in this country, my genes are European and I just don't know what a true American apple pie is supposed to taste like. I do not have that innate sense of rightness or that intuition that most people have when cooking a dish native to their ancestors' land. Some day, I will research and tackle this project (or just shoot from the hip and make the first recipe that sounds good to me), but the morning I baked this, I felt a tug of nostalgia and I wanted something that tastes familiar, something I could smell even before the first flour was sifted or the first apple was cut.

All I can say is that this cake is a delight and you must -- no, really, you must -- make it. It is everything that is rustic and yet elegant, complex and simple, tasting of mellow October sun and apple orchards heavy with ripened fruit. It's the kind of cake where you think "will all these apples really fit?" but fit they do, and gloriously so. I would make it again and for every occasion. Slicing the apples thinly gives it the softness and delicacy of French apple tarts, but the robust batter (which, by the way, tasted amazing) provides a nice, comforting heft. I am completely in love with this cake.

The Knead For Bread Apple Tart Bread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3.5-4 large apples or 5 smaller ones
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Peel and core your apples, and then slice them thinly. Prepare an 11 inch tart pan and turn the oven to 350F. If you don't want the apples to brown, you can squeeze some lemon juice over the apples (but there is no need here, as the apples will go into the batter anyway).

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a small bowl. Melt the butter and leave it to cool. In a large bowl combine the eggs and sugar. Using a mixer mix on high speed for three minutes. The mixture will become pale and thick.

Add in the slightly warm melted butter and vanilla extract. Mix until well blended. Add in the sliced apples and stir until the apples are coated. Add in the sifted dry ingredients and mix until the flour in incorporated.

Pour into the prepared tart pan and place into the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, dust with confectioners' sugar. I think this tastes the best when warm, and I would not be averse to trying it with some whipped cream next time.