The Miller's Daughter by Emma Zimmerman
Emma Zimmerman truly understands what it means to engage food as the means of healing our bodies, our communities, and our earth in her new book The Miller’s Daughter.
Photography: David Alvarado
Emma Zimmerman, along with her father, Jeff, is a rebel and a dreamer on the outskirts of rural Phoenix.
In a country overrun by corporate, homogenised grain farming, the daughter-father team are champions of rare and near-extinct varieties of ancient grains.
The rejuvenation of their business, Arizona’s Hayden Flour Mills, is an unlikely tale of an underdog rising from the Wild West.
The Miller’s Daughter is a cookbook at the forefront of America’s heritage grain movement with 80 glorious recipes and beautiful, candid stories that celebrate community, agriculture, sustainability, and the place of grains at every table.
Emma’s collection of recipes covers breakfast, sweet, savoury and mains within each chapter. Think recipes for chickpea cookies, pink polenta with crispy pancetta, sprouted barley salad, farro crust tart, white sonora berry salad – and much more.
Below we share a recipe from the book: sunken quince cake with honey and rye.
Poppy seed and lemon shortbread cookie from The Miller’s Daughter. Photo: David Alvarado
Photo: David Alvarado
“The Miller’s Daughter is a true and captivating story of a mill restarted and of near-extinct grains rescued.”
Einkorn Parfait from The Miller’s Daughter. Photo: David Alvarado
Sunken quince cake with honey and rye (recipe below) from The Miller’s Daughter. Photo: David Alvarado
SUNKEN QUINCE CAKE WITH HONEY & RYE
Quinces are knobbly pome fruits with the texture of an apple and the scent of a guava. The combination of quince, rye flour and honey is a match made in heaven, as this luscious recipe amply demonstrates. The batter rises up over the fruit to create a fun ‘sunken’ effect that makes this simple tea cake feel fancier than it really is. If quinces are hard to find or out of season, baking apples make a great substitute.
Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
3 quinces
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
BATTER
150 g (51/2 oz/10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
85 g (3 oz/1/4 cup) honey
100 g (31/2 oz/1/2 cup) granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 lemon
175 g (6 oz/11/4 cups) rye flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
100 ml (31/2 fl oz) whole (full-cream) milk
powdered (icing) sugar, to serve
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Butter a 23 cm (9 in) springform cake pan.
Peel the quinces, taking care as some varieties can be very hard, and cut them into halves. Use a tablespoon to scoop out the seeds and tough interior. Score the outside of each piece in 5–6 mm (1/4 in) thick slices, being careful not to cut all the way through. As the quince bakes, it will fan apart and the scoring will help to soften the fruit. Toss the prepared quince in the lemon juice and sugar and set aside.
For the batter, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, honey and sugar, then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat on high speed until fluffy. Add the vanilla and lemon zest.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then gradually add to the butter mixture, mixing gently on the lowest speed until incorporated. Mix in the milk.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Arrange the scored quince halves on top, scored side up (if there is room, place the sixth piece in the middle of the cake). There’s no need to press them into the batter as the cake will rise around them in the oven.
Bake for 40 minutes until the top of the cake is golden and the quince pieces are soft. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan, then sift powdered sugar over the top and serve. The cake is best eaten on the day of baking, but leftovers will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
