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Polenta Quick Bread with Lemon and Thyme

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes one 9-inch loaf

Ingredients

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh thyme leaves, plus sprigs for garnish
1 cup fine yellow cornmeal (preferably stone-ground)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted, half coarsely chopped and half whole

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter a 9 × 5-inch loaf pan. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

    Step 2

    Add lemon zest; mix 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in lemon juice and thyme. Add flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt, and mix until just combined. Stir in chopped pine nuts.

    Step 3

    Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with whole pine nuts. Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Garnish with thyme. The bread can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

The cookbook cover with a blue background and fine typeface.
Reprinted with permission from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics by Martha Stewart Living Magazine, copyright © 2007. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of The Crown Publishing Group. Buy the full book from Amazon.
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