The Clueless Baker. Evelyn Raab

loaf from the baking pan and let cool completely before slicing. If you can possibly resist eating it immediately, it actually improves wrapped in foil and left to sit overnight.

      Makes one 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13 cm) unpretentious loaf.

      Whole Wheat Positive

      You can substitute whole wheat flour for all or part of the all-purpose flour in this recipe. Start with a small proportion, and if you like the result, you can use more whole wheat flour next time.

      Blender Banana Bread

      Hey — look. There. Beside the microwave. Under the oranges. Isn’t that a bunch of mushy old bananas? Yes! It’s banana bread time.

      1¼ cups (300 ml) all-purpose flour

      1 cup (250 ml) granulated sugar

      1 tsp. (5 ml) baking powder

      ½ tsp. (2 ml) baking soda

      2 seriously ripe bananas, peeled

      ½ cup (125 ml) vegetable oil

      2 eggs

      Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan.

      In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.

      Put the bananas, oil and eggs into the container of a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the blended banana mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until thoroughly combined.

      Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the pan and place on a rack to cool.

      Makes 1 simply superb loaf of banana bread.

      Whole Wheat Positive

      You can substitute whole wheat flour for all or part of the all-purpose flour in this recipe. Start with a small proportion, and if you like the result, you can use more whole wheat flour next time.

      Extra extra!

      Want to throw in some chopped nuts? Chocolate chips? Raisins? Go ahead! It’ll be just fine. Add about ¾ cup (175 ml) of any one (or mixture) of the above to the batter when you combine the wet and dry ingredients. It’s your banana bread now, baby.

      Cranberry Orange Bread

      A lovely thing to serve thinly sliced at your next tea party. Not planning a tea party? Pity.

      2 cups (500 ml) all-purpose flour

      1 cup (250 ml) granulated sugar

      1½ tsp. (7 ml) baking powder

      ½ tsp. (2 ml) baking soda

      1 medium orange (juice squeezed and zest grated)

      1 egg

      ¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil

      1 cup (250 ml) fresh or frozen cranberries, cut into halves

      ½ cup (125 ml) chopped walnuts

      Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan.

      In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.

      Grate the zest from the orange and set it aside. Squeeze the orange juice into a measuring cup and add just enough water to measure ¾ cup (175 ml) of liquid. Pour this into a small bowl, and add the grated orange zest, egg and vegetable oil. Whisk until well blended.

      Add the juice mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until everything is moistened. Stir in the cranberries and walnuts — mix just until combined. Scoop batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown on top and passes the toothpick test.

      Remove loaf from the baking pan and let cool completely before slicing. In fact, this tastes even better if you wrap it in foil and let it sit overnight. No really.

      Makes one 9 x 5 inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf.

      Whole Wheat Positive

      You can substitute whole wheat flour for all or part of the all-purpose flour in this recipe. Start with a small proportion, and if you like the result, you can use more whole wheat flour next time.

      Painless Nut Chopping

      Painless for you, that is.

      Measure your walnuts, pecans, almonds or hazelnuts into a zip-top plastic bag. Roll with a rolling pin until the nuts are chopped the way you want them. Ta-da!

      Blueberry Lemon Bread

      You’ve invited Great-Aunt Gertrude to lunch. What on earth are you going to serve? Well, tuna casserole, of course. And with her tea, this lemony bread. She’ll be so impressed.

      1 lemon (zest grated, juice squeezed)

      1¼ cups (300 ml) granulated sugar, divided

      1½ cups (375 ml) all-purpose flour

      2 tsp. (10 ml) baking powder

      ¼ cup (60 ml) butter, softened

      2 eggs

      ½ cup (125 ml) milk

      1 cup (250 ml) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t thaw)

      Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan.

      Grate the zest from the lemon into a small bowl and set aside. Squeeze the juice into a microwave-safe glass measuring cup or bowl. Add ¼ cup (60 ml) of the sugar to the lemon juice. Set aside.

      In a bowl, stir together the flour and the baking powder.

      In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining 1 cup (250 ml) of sugar with the softened butter and beat with an electric mixer for 1 or 2 minutes, until fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each. Add the grated lemon zest. Now add the flour mixture in 2 or 3 additions, alternating with the milk, beating until the batter is smooth. Quickly fold in the blueberries, mixing just until they’re evenly distributed.

      Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 65 to 70 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick poked into the middle comes out clean. Don’t remove the loaf from the pan yet!

      Remember that little bowl with the lemon juice and sugar? Place it in the microwave and nuke on high power for 1 minute, stirring once or twice, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture becomes syrupy. With a toothpick, poke holes all over the top of the baked loaf and gradually spoon the syrup over, allowing it to soak in. Let cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.

      Makes 1 refreshingly lemony 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf.

      Grate first, squeeze later

      Whenever a recipe calls for both the grated zest and the juice of a lemon, lime or orange, always grate first, then squeeze afterward. You can easily squeeze a lemon after it’s been zested, but you just can’t zest a squoozen one.

      Too much of a good thing?

      Even if you only need a small amount of lemon juice for your recipe, you may as well go right ahead and squeeze the whole thing. Freeze the extra juice in an ice cube tray and store the cubes in a plastic bag in the freezer to use another time.

      Grease is not a four-letter word

      It’s happened to all of us. The cookies that stick to the cookie sheet. The cake (or worse — half of a cake) that refuses to exit the baking pan. The otherwise perfect loaf of bread that stubbornly resists all attempts to pry it loose from the mold.

      It’s your fault. If you had greased the pan properly, everything would have been fine.

      For most baking, the fastest and easiest way to grease a pan is to use commercial nonstick vegetable oil cooking spray. It’s a perfectly