Kefir and Walnut Loaf
Kefir does two things at once in a cake: its acidity consumes the bicarbonate, giving lift, and it also relaxes the gluten, leaving a fine, tender crumb. Nuts tossed in a spoonful of flour do not sink — the floury film grips the batter and holds them suspended.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 50 min
- Rest
- 20 min
- Total
- 1 h 30 min
- Servings
- 10
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 340 kcal
Ingredients
Makes: a 25×11 cm loaf, 10 slices
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Toast the walnuts
Warm them in a dry pan for 5 minutes until fragrant, then chop. Raw nuts taste flat in a cake and leave a slight astringency.
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Step 2: Toss them in flour
Mix the nuts with a spoonful of the measured flour. That thin coating stops them sliding to the bottom of the tin.
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Step 3: Cream butter and sugar
Beat the soft butter with both sugars for 4 minutes until light, then add the eggs one at a time.
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Step 4: Alternate kefir and flour
Add the flour with soda and salt and the kefir alternately, in three additions, folding as little as possible. Begin and end with flour.
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Step 5: Fold in the nuts
Fold them through in a few strokes. The batter should be thick, sliding slowly off the spatula.
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Step 6: Bake straight away
Into the tin and into the oven at 175 °C for 45–50 minutes, to a clean skewer. Soda batter does not wait: the reaction is already running.
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Step 7: Cool
Twenty minutes in the tin, then onto a rack. Warm, it cuts raggedly and crumbles.
Tips & variations
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Tip
The kefir must be at room temperature: cold kefir sets the butter into lumps and the crumb comes out patchy.
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Tip
Do not slake the soda with vinegar in a spoon — the whole reaction belongs in the batter, and the kefir is acidic enough for it.
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Variation
With 60 g of poppy seeds and lemon zest it becomes a cake for guests; with one diced apple, moister.
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Storage
Four days in a closed tin. Kefir cakes stale slowly, because the acidity holds moisture.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 10 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 340 kcal | 3,400 kcal |
| Protein | 7 g | 70 g |
| Fat | 17 g | 170 g |
| Carbohydrates | 41 g | 410 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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