This recipe didn't really work. I actually found it quite tasty, but it was excessively wet. And Reiver found it too wet and walnut-y to be properly tasty. I think this one is salvagable, but it doesn't quite work as written. The recipe below reflects my recommended fix rather than the original.

Apple-Carrot Loaf

Adapted from CakeLove in the Morning by Warren Brown

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. carrots, peeled and grated
• 1/2 c. apple, peeled and grated
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1/4 c. oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
• 1/2 c. sultanas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 23x13cm (9x5") loaf pan.
2. Combine the carrots, apple, brown sugar, ginger, oil, eggs, and honey and mix well.
3. Sift the baking powder into the flour.
4. Mix in the cinnamon, salt, walnuts, and sultanas.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (45-55 minutes).
7. Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

This is a really interesting quick bread. It contains hardly any flour! Wheat bran is the main dry ingredient, with a little flour and cornmeal added in for good measure. It's relatively sweet and rich and can be dressed up with nuts, raisins, dates, or a combination of all of the above. Definitely more of a dessert than a sandwich bread. But it is, at least, a high fibre one!

I ended up adding a bit of sourdough starter and an extra tablespoon of cornmeal to my rendition of this loaf, but both are entirely optional. (I mostly just really needed to use up some starter.)

Butter Bran Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 c. wheat bran
• 250g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration (optional)
• 2/3 c. whole wheat flour
• 5-6 Tbsp. cornmeal
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 c. milk
• 1 c. raisins, walnuts, and/or chopped dates

Directions

1. Grease and flour a 23x13cm (9x5") loaf pan and preheat oven to 190°F (375°F).
2. Cream the butter and sugar together.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in the wheat bran.
5. Stir in the sourdough starter.
6. Add the flour, cornmeal, and salt and sift in the baking powder on top.
7. Stir to mix well.
8. Mix in the milk to form a fairly thick batter.
9. Stir in the raisins, nuts, and/or dates.
10. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
11. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~45 minutes.
12. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then (carefully) turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Pumpkin Quick Bread

I struggled a bit to get back into the swing of things after getting home from New Zealand. Getting on top of the meal planning and cooking was especially hard. And figuring out what to make for breakfast, doubly so.

This pumpkin bread was something of a desperation option. But it did at least give us something tasty to eat for a few days. Not exactly the most substantial option. But a nice treat and something to tide us over while I worked out what the heck I was doing!

Pumpkin Bread

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 390g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 430g pumpkin purée
• 200g sugar
• 200g brown sugar¹
• 1/2 c. canola oil²
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour two 20x10cm (8x4") loaf tins.
2. Sift the baking soda and baking powder into the flour.
3. Mix in the salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin, sugars, oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla and mix well.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.
6. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and top with pepitas.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (50-60 minutes).
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out into wire racks to finish cooling.

---

¹ I reduced the overall sugar from 600g to 400g and replaced half of it with brown sugar. ^Back
2 I halved the amount of oil called for and replaced it with an equivalent amount of unsweetened applesauce. This gives it a nice bit of moisture, some extra fruit and fibre, and drastically reduces the amount of fat in each loaf. And they still tasted great! Absolutely no complaints. They definitely didn't need the extra oil (or sugar). ^Back

I needed bread in a hurry last night. I had intended to give the chocolate bread a try when next I was baking, but I didn't have time to make the sponge. So instead I flipped a bit further through the book and settled on this high-fibre quick bread recipe.

Using chemical leaveners rather than yeast meant it was ready in about an hour. And, while it does have quite a bit of sugar in it, it also contains a hefty quantity of wheat bran and no added fat. So it comes out sweet, but quite lean. And the molasses makes it pleasingly dark and fragrant.

Hilo Bran Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 375g flour
• 150g wheat bran
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 1/2 c. milk
• 6 Tbsp. molasses

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour two 20x10cm (8x4") loaf pans.
2. Combine the flour, bran, sugar, and salt.
3. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
4. In a large measuring cup, combine the milk and molasses and mix well.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and let stand for 10 minutes.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 40-45 minutes.
8. Turn out onto wire racks to cool.

The recipe calls for icing these loaves, but I honestly really liked them as-is.

I'm sure they'd be fine with icing. But would require extra time, effort and ingredients. And while they would probably look prettier for it, I'm not convinced they would be significantly tastier, so I just left it off.

Photo goes here.

Feijoa-Ginger-Nut Loaves

Slightly adapted NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 260g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 100g brown sugar
• 1 tsp. mixed (or pumpkin pie) spice
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 c. bran flakes
• 1/2 c. (~60g) chopped nuts (walnuts, pistachios, almonds, pecans, etc.)
• 1 c. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 250g feijoa pulp, chopped
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour two small 18x8cm (7x3") loaf pans.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, mixed spice, ginger, bran flakes, and nuts and mix well.
3. Beat the egg with the milk and mix in the oil, applesauce, feijoas, and baking soda.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (~45 minutes).
6. Let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

I think there are going to be a lot of feijoa recipes on the blog for the next few weeks!

We spent the day out in Te Awamutu today, so I didn't have much time for baking. But I did at least manage to get a feijoa loaf done before we left.

This is a relatively plain one, but that's not a bad thing here. I like that it's just feijoas. Without any other fruit, no butter or oil, and not too much sugar either. I made it with a mix of plain and whole wheat flour this time, but I think it would also be good done as a 100% whole wheat loaf.

Recipe as written, this only makes a fairly small loaf. I think the pan I used was ~18x8cm (7x3"). And the loaf just filled the pan nicely once it baked up. So, if you're happy with a pint-sized loaf, then this is perfect. I would recommend doubling the recipe for a 23x13 (9x5") pan however.

Feijoa Loaf

Slightly adapted from My Kids Lick the Bowl

Ingredients

• 225g whole wheat flour
• 60g ground almonds (almond flour/meal)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 60-90g brown sugar
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 250g feijoa pulp, mashed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a small loaf tin.
2. Combine the flour and almonds and sift in the baking powder.
3. Add the sugar and mix well.
4. Beat the egg with the milk and vanilla.
5. Add the wet ingredients and the feijoa pulp to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (~45 minutes).
8. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

My original plan had been to do an overnight recipe for breakfast today. I had been vaguely thinking about doing some overnight cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately the evening kind of got away from me and I didn't actually end up assembling anything last night. So that left me trying to throw something together this morning.

I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled with this zucchini bread, but it was alright. It had a good amount of zucchini in it, so it was nice and moist. Unfortunatley it didn't rise very well. Personally, I'd be inclined to try a different recipe next time, but this at least got the job done for now.

Zucchini Bread

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 280g zucchini, grated
• 190g flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 23x13cm (9x5") loaf pan.
2. Beat the sugar with the oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla for ~1 minute.
3. Stir in the zucchini.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, and salt.
5. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (50-60 minutes).
9. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

This date bread is very similar to the sourdough date muffins that I sometimes make. Similar, but much, much sweeter. I actually halved the sugar called for in this recipe and it still came out bordering on cloying. I mean, it was good. But definitely at the upper limit of actually palatable amounts of sugar. I think I'd probably reduce the sugar even further next time. (And maybe add a little cinnamon as well. I think that would be a nice addition.)

I can, at least, vouch for this being a very easy recipe to put together. And, while it takes a while to bake, it's not super time consuming either. So, it does make for a decent low-effort breakfast offering. Not the most filling or healthy, mind you, but there's still something to be said for easy and tasty.

Date Bread

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 250g dates, chopped
• 1 c. boiling water
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. brown sugar¹
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 150g sourdough discard (optional)
• 1 c. whole wheat flour²
• 1/2 c. soft (plain/standard/pastry) flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Pour the boiling water over the dates, sprinkle in the baking soda, and set aside for 30-60 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, grease and flour a loaf pan. (I used a 23x13cm pan, but I think a 20x10cm size would have been slightly better.)
3. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
4. Beat the butter with the sugar.
5. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
6. Mix in the dates (along with all of the soaking liquid) and the sourdough discard (if using).
7. Stir in the flours and cinnamon.
8. Add the walnuts and stir to combine.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth top, and bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (~45 minutes).
10. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
11. Turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

---

¹ The original recipe called for 1 c. of granulated sugar. I used 1/2 c. of brown sugar when I made it (and added ~150g of sourdough starter to the batter) and I found the finished loaf to be pleasant, but very sweet. In my opinion, using the full quantity of sugar would have rendered it completely inedible. I think that, if you're looking for a very sweet, cake-like offering, then 1/2 of sugar is probably fine. But if you'd like a somewhat less sugary breakfast option, then I'd recommend cutting the sugar back even further to 1/4 c. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 c. of all-purpose flour. I opted for a mix of plain and whole wheat flour for my rendition. I used mostly plain with just a bit of whole wheat this time, but I think I'd flip the script and use more whole wheat next time. ^Back

Banana Bread (Breakfast Bible Version)

I already have quite a few banana bread recipes. That said, just because I have a bunch of good ones already, doesn't mean I'm not interested in trying even more!

Today was my first day in New Zealand. (I mean, not actually today-today. Not June 28th when this recipe is posted, but December 30th when I'm actually writing from.) I arrived in Hamilton yesterday and today was my first full day here. I woke up good and early due to the time change and decided that it would be nice to make use of the time and make something tasty for breakfast for everyone else to wake up to. That said, being my first day here, I hadn't had a chance to do a grocery shop yet or get a good handle on what was in the kitchen. But I knew that there were a bunch of bananas, eggs, sugar, and flour, so I figured that was a pretty good start.

I did end up making a few tweaks to the recipe. All-purpose flour isn't really a thing here, so I used a mix of "high grade" (hard) and "standard" (soft) flour. There wasn't any plain yogurt, just manuka honey yogurt, so I rolled with that but then halved the sugar. The bananas and eggs were both on the small side, so I threw an extra of each in. And since unsalted butter doesn't really seem to be a thing here, so I just used the salted and then omitted the salt from the recipe. I also ended up swapping out the walnuts for a mix of chocolate chips and sunflower seeds, since there didn't appear to be any walnuts in the pantry. And, as it turns out, that worked out quite well since Reiver doesn't really care for walnuts in his banana bread¹ and ended up quite liking the sunflower seeds.

Banana Bread

Adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour²
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 large (or 3 medium) eggs
• 1/3 c. manuka honey Greek yogurt³
• 1/2 c. salted butter⁴, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts
• 2-3 Tbsp. sunflower seeds (or more walnuts)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 23x13cm (9x5") loaf pan.
2. Combine the flour and sugar, sift in the baking soda, and mix well.
3. Mash the bananas.
4. Beat the eggs into the bananas and stir in the yogurt, butter, and vanilla.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and/or walnuts.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle with the sunflower seeds.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~1 hour.
8. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
9. Turn out of tin and allow to finish cooling on the cooling rack.

---

¹ Although I did later find out that apparently part of the reason he preferred the sunflower seeds was that they are smaller than walnuts. Which initially confused me since I usually chop my walnuts to about the same size as sunflower seeds or chocolate chips. But apparently that's not the norm here and people typically just toss whole walnut halves into their baked goods! (New Zealand is a strange place.) ^Back
2 I used 2 c. of hard flour and 1/4 c. of soft flour for mine. ^Back
3 I also think that plain yogurt, either Greek or not, would probably work fine here. Your bread will be a little less sweet if you're using plain yogurt, but I still think that it would be sweet enough. And, if you find it's not, you can always add a bit more sugar. ^Back
4 Or unsalted butter + 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt. ^Back

I made some delicious beef bourguignon last week and realized partway through making it that we were all out of bread. I knew I didn't have enough time to make a proper yeasted loaf at that point¹, so I gave this chemically-leavened bran bread a try instead. It was pretty good and I actually liked it a lot better than I thought I would. That said, the batter produced by the recipe as written was way too dry! It was basically a dough. I had to add a bunch of extra milk and some sourdough starter to even get it to the point of being a thick batter. Having made those adjustments though, it was great!

Bran-Nut Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 300g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 2 c. wheat bran
• 1 2/3 c. milk²
• 125g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp. molasses
• 1 c. walnuts, chopped
• 1 c. currants or raisins (optional)

Directions

1. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Use a larger one if you plan to include the dried fruit, smaller if you don't.
2. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
3. Combine flour and salt and sift in baking powder.
4. Mix in bran.
5. In a large measuring cup, beat egg with milk, starter, butter, and molasses.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine. Adjust consistency with a little more milk if needed.
7. Mix in walnuts and currants (if using).
8. Pour into prepared loaf tin and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
9. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 45-60 minutes.
10. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.

---

¹ I probably could have made the yeasted batter bread out of the same book. But I'd made that one before and I wanted to try something new! ^Back
2 I'm not sure exactly how much milk I put in. I started with the 1 1/3 c. called for in the recipe and mixed the batter up as specified, but ended up going back and adding a bunch more milk at the end when the batter proved to be way too dry. I think I probably added at least an extra 1/3 c., possibly a bit more. Use enough milk to make a thick batter. ^Back

This is a simple, sweet quickbread (more of a cake, really). It pumpkin purée into the batter as well lots of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and a generous quantity of chopped walnuts.

I had intended to try to cut the calories in these loaves slightly by replaing some of the butter with unsweetened applesauce, but it turns out that the Kidlet polished off all the applesauce a few days ago, so I wasn't able to test that particular modification. I also think that this recipe would probably work well with whole wheat flour in place of the all-purpose, but I decided to not try that substitution just yet. I did did adjust the spices slightly. Instead of 1 tsp. of cinnamon + 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg, I opted for 1 tsp. of mixed spice + 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon. Really, either way would be fine though.

Pumpkin-Walnut Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. pumpkin (fresh or canned)
• 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large eggs
• 360g all-purpose flour (or try subbing whole wheat)
• 2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 c. chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease two loaf pans (preferably 8x4"/20x10cm).
2. Combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, and eggs and mix well.
3. Add the flour (without mixing it in) and sift in the baking powder. Add the mixed spice, cinnamon, and salt as well.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients until almost fulling incorporated. Add the walnuts and continue mixing.
5. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the top.
6. Bake at 180°C 350°F) for 45-55 minutes.
7. Let cool in tins for 5-10 minutes, then turn out of tins and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
8. If possible, wrap the loaves in tin foil once cooled and let stand at room temperature for 1-3 days before slicing.

I don't make soad breads very often. I tend to like either relatively sweet, batter-based quick breads or long-fermented yeasted breads better. But we've been out of bread for quite a while now and I keep not having the spoons to make more, so I figured I'd try out this sourdough soda bread as a stop-gap until I feel up to making more "real" bread. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it looks nice and I want to get the write up out of the way before it becomes another thing piled onto my backlog.

Sourdough Soda Bread

From Cultures for Health

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, chilled
• 350g sourdough starter (fresh or discard) @ 100% hydration
• 1 c. buttermilk¹
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1 egg²

Directions

1. Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. Cut in the butter.
3. Combine the starter, buttermilk, and honey in a large measuring cup.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet.
5. Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet, working from the centre out ward.
6. Once most of the flour has been incorporated, turn the dough out onto your work surface and knead it for ~20 minutes. Lightly flour the work surface as needed, but don't overdo it! It's generally better for the dough to be a little too wet than too dry.
7. Preheat the oven to 180°F (350°C).
8. Divide the dough into two equal portions.
9. Knead each portion a few strokes and shape into a round ball.
10. Grease a large baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal.
11. Place the dough balls, seam side down, on the baking sheet.
12. Cut a deep cross in the top of each one. Don't be afraid to go most of the way through the loaf. Some people even do cut all the way through and then just leave the four pieces lightly pressed against each other on the baking sheet.
13. Prepare your egg wash as you prefer and brush both loaves with egg.
14. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-45 minutes.
15. When done, transfer to wire rack to cool.

---

¹ As usual, I didn't have any buttermilk on hand. Normally I would have just used some milk soured with a bit of vinegar, but I went with 1/2 c. of sour cream thinned with 1/2 c. of milk for this one. Mostly because I still had a bunch of sour cream that needed to be used up. I think this makes a better buttermilk substitute anyway since sour cream uses the same culture as buttermilk. ^Back
2 I like to mix my egg with a little water (maybe a Tbsp. or so) for my egg wash, but make your wash however you prefer for this. You won't need the whole egg, so save the rest for another use or cook it up as scrambled eggs. ^Back

What I really needed to do this past week, was make some sourdough bread. The starter was in desperate need of feeding. But I didn't have the combobules to do that, so I gave this English muffin bread a try instead. It's an interesting cross between a quick bread and a yeasted bread and rises wicked fast!

I'm not sure how much it tastes like an English muffin, but it does taste good and it's fast. You can go from mixing ingredients to taking fresh bread out of the oven in ~2 hours. Which is kind of ridiculous. Especially when I've gotten more used to measuring my bread-making times in days, rather than hours.

I think it would be interesting to try a whole wheat version of this bread at some point, but I stuck with the white flour version for now because I was already in unfamiliar territory with the mix of chemical leaveners and yeast and didn't want to change up the flour in case that messed things up.

English Muffin Bread

From Cook's Country August/September 2016

Ingredients

• 770g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour¹
• 4 1/2 tsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 c. whole (3.25%) milk, warm (~45-50°C)

Directions

1. Combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda and mix well.
2. Pour in warm milk and mix to incorporate the dry ingredients.
3. Cover and let rise in warm place (25-30°C) for ~30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, grease two loaf pans and dust them with cornmeal.
5. Stir/knock back the dough and divide it between the two loaf pans. Use a greased spatula to push the dough into the corners of the pans.
6. Cover the pans with greased plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for ~30 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
8. Discard plastic wrap and bake loaves at 190°C (375°F) for ~30 minutes. Loaves should be well-browned and register an internal temperature of 93°C (200°F).
9. Turn bread out onto a wire rack to cool for at least 1 hour.
10. Slices should be toasted before serving.

---

Variations

Whole Wheat English Muffin Bread

Ingredients

• 680-700g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 50g gluten (vital wheat) flour
• 4 1/2 tsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 c. whole (3.25%) milk, warm (~45-50°C)

---

¹ I didn't have any hard white flour, so I used 720g all-purpose flour + 50g gluten (vital wheat) flour. ^Back

This started out as Amish cinnamon bread, but I made enough changes that I don't think I can really call it the same recipe anymore.

The original recipe called for a total of 3 1/2 c. of sugar and just over 1 1/3 c. of oil. I opted to replace some of the sugar with a monk fruit and erythiol sweetener and I replaced ~75% of the oil with apple sauce. I also swapped out about half the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour. I think next time I'd just use 100% whole wheat flour. And I'd also cut the sugar back slightly. (Not that it wasn't delicious as it was. I'm just trying to figure out ways to make it a bit healthier.)

Apple-Cinnamon Bread

Adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2019

Ingredients

Coating

• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. monk fruit sweetener with erythiol (or more sugar)
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. oil

Bread

• 500g whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 c. monk fruit sweetener with erythiol (or more sugar)
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2 vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. Oil two loaf pans with 1/2 tsp. of oil each.
3. Combine the sugar(s) and cinnamon for the topping and use 2 Tbsp. of the mixture to coat the inside of each loaf pan. You will use 1/4 c. total for the pans and have ~1/4 c. left over.)
4. Add the sugar(s) and cinnamon to the flour.
5. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda.
6. Stir in the salt.
7. In a large measuring cup (or bowl) combine the milk, applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla and mix well.
8. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. (Some lumps are okay.)
9. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans.
10. Sprinkle each loaf with 2 Tbsp. of the coating/cinnamon-sugar mixture.
11. Bake at 160°C (325°F) for 70-80 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and let cool in tins set on wire racks for ~1 hour.
13. Run a knife around the edges of the pans and turn the loaves out onto wire racks to finish cooling.
14. Serve warm or cold.

I got this from symbol's mom many years ago. It's a nice simple quickbread that comes together in five minutes and is suitable for sandwiches, toast, or just snacking.

I hadn't made it in ages, since symbol isn't so much a fan of it, but we needed a bread in a hurry the other day for the kidlet, so I put together a loaf. She loved it; it's a "super favourite" and has now served as breakfast, lunch (in a sandwich), and dessert.

Aggravatingly, the amount of beer called for is just slightly more than the size of a standard tin of Heineken (which we occasionally get as free pack-ins with orders of other food for some reason). symbol suggested using milk to make up the difference and that worked out well.

Cheesy Beer Bread

symbol's mom

Ingredients

• 3 C all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp salt
• ¼ C sugar
• 355mL beer (if you don't have quite enough, supplement with milk)
• 1 C diced cheddar (go a bit heavy on this if you like)
• ¼ C green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
2. Add beer (and milk, if using) and stir together.
3. Add cheddar and green onions and mix well. The dough should be relatively dry, but if you find it too stiff to mix effectively, add another teaspoon or two of milk.
4. Pour into a well greased loaf tin and bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes, until the exterior is golden brown and a probe comes out clean.
5. Let stand 10-15 minutes and then remove from the tin to a wire rack. (You may need to do some prying to get it come free, given the cheese.)

My starter desperately needed to be used. I started by making some biscuits, but it was still looking pretty sluggish, so I picked out this soda bread recipe as well. I haven't actually had a chance to taste the bread yet, but it looks nice, so I'm pretty much just going by that at this point. I can always come back and update later if I have any more thoughts after trying it.

Photo goes here.

Seeded Sourdough Soda Bread

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Baking

Ingredients

• 275g soft (plain/standard/pastry) whole wheat flour
• 150g all-purpose flour
• 100g mixed seeds¹
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 225g sourdough starter, 100% hydration (ripe or discard is fine for this)
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 3/4 c. milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 205°C (400°F) and grease a baking sheet.
2. Combine the flours, seeds, baking soda, and salt and mix well.
3. Add the starter, butter, honey, and milk and stir to combine.
4. Knead it for a few strokes on a lightly floured surface. (It won't develop the same strech or suppleness as a yeasted dough; that's fine.)
5. Divide the dough into two equal portions and shape each one into a ball. (Again, you won't be able to get a smooth sheet of gluten like with yeasted dough. That's expected.
6. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.
7. Cut a deep cross/X into the top of each ball.
8. Bake at 205°C (400°F) for 30 minutes.

---

¹ I used a mix of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and millet. Whole flax seeds would also work well if you have them, but I only had ground. Flaked grains would also be nice: wheat, rye, oat, kamut, etc. I might also be worth experimenting with whole wheat berries or cracked grains: wheat, rye, bulgur, etc., but they may require some soaking before being added to the dough and that could mess with the hydration, so I'd not willing to recommend them without some cautions. Give it a go if you're feeling adventerous though! ^Back

I'm still waiting for this "bread" to finish baking. Normally I'd wait 'til I'd tasted it to do the write-up, but I'm at loose ends right now and I know I'll probably forget if I leave it 'til later, so I'm putting this down now. I can always come back later and add notes and alterations.

This recipe seems to be very much in the family of quick breads that are actually cakes baked in a loaf pan. It has a shocking amount of sugar and butter. I think I'll probably want to try to reduce both the next time I make this, but I just followed the recipe for today. We'll see how it tastes once it comes out of the oven...

Sourdough Maple-Walnut Quick Bread

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Baking

Ingredients

• 170g whole wheat flour
• 120g all-purpose flour
• 100g sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 170g sourdough discard (unfed starter)
• 1/2 c. milk¹
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp. maple flavouring (optional)
• 1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 23cm by 13cm (9"x5") loaf pan.
2. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix well.
3. In a large measuring cup, whisk together starter, milk, maple syrup, eggs, melted butter, and maple flavouring (if using).
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined.
5. Stir in walnuts.
6. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 60-70 minutes.

---

Variations

Healthier Maple-Walnut Quick Bread

Ingredients

• 290g whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 170g sourdough discard (unfed starter)
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 2 large eggs
• 1 very ripe banana, mashed
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 tsp. maple flavouring (optional)
• 1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 23cm by 13cm (9"x5") loaf pan.
2. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix well.
3. In a large measuring cup, whisk together starter, milk, maple syrup, eggs, banana melted butter, applesauce, and maple flavouring (if using).
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined.
5. Stir in walnuts.
6. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 60-70 minutes.

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 290g whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 170g sourdough discard (unfed starter)
• 1/2 c. oat milk
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 2 flax eggs
• 1 very ripe banana, mashed
• 1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 tsp. maple flavouring (optional)
• 1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 23cm by 13cm (9"x5") loaf pan.
2. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix well.
3. In a large measuring cup, whisk together starter, milk, maple syrup, eggs, banana melted butter, applesauce, and maple flavouring (if using).
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined.
5. Stir in walnuts.
6. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 60-70 minutes.

---

¹ The original recipe called for buttermilk, but a) I didn't have any and b) my starter was already quite acidic, so I just swapped in some milk for the buttermilk. If your starter is less acidic, you may want to use buttermilk or stir a little vinegar into your wet ingredients. ^Back

A cheese-y quick bread. The basic recipe just adds a little mustard powder to the batter, but you can dress it up all sorts of ways: herbs, chili powder, cayenne, green onions, jalapeños, etc.

Cheese Loaf

From Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 3 c. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. mustard powder
• 2 tsp. butter
• 1 1/2 c. grated cheese
• 1 c. milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease and flour two 23cm (9") loaf tins.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and mustard.
3. Rub in the butter.
4. Mix in the grated cheese.
5. Stir in the milk to make a very thick batter. Use a little more or less milk as necessary to get the right consistency.
6. Spoon into the prepared tins.
7. Top loaves with a little extra cheese and/or paprika if desired.
8. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 30-40 minutes.
9. Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes.
10. Tranfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

We're running low on bread again and I decided to try out a quick bread recipe rather than making another yeasted bread. Many quick breads lean toward the sweet and are basically cakes in loaf form. This one claimed to be "not too sweet" and appropriate for savoury applications, so I figured I'd give it a go.

The original recipe called for a mix of hard and soft whole wheat flour. I still don't have my grain mill set up yet, so I wasn't in a position to make any soft whole wheat flour. I ended up tossing in a little (white) all-purpose flour and just using hard whole wheat for the rest. The loaf came out very tender and a bit crumbly. I think I'd probably just use all hard whole wheat flour next time. I'd probably toss in an extra egg as well and reduce the water a little bit.

Simple Wheat Germ Quick Bread

Adapted from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 c. hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 Tbsp. powdered milk
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. wheat germ
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 c. honey
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c. water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 20cm x 10cm (8"x4") loaf pan.
2. Combine flour, salt, and powdered milk.
3. Sift in baking soda.
4. Stir in wheat germ and mix well.
5. Cream honey with butter.
6. Beat in eggs one at a time.
7. Add dry ingredients alternately with water.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) for about an hour.
9. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes.
10. Turn out of pan and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

I was hit by a powerful chocolate craving today. Normally I probably would've just made some sort of chocolate cake and called it a day. But we had a bunch of bananas that needed to be used, so I decided to dig out this Cook's Country recipe and give it a try.

I've never been a big fan of chocolate chip banana bread, but this double chocolate stuff is good! I always found the little nuggets of stabilized chocolate in chocolate chip banana bread off-putting in texture and jarring in flavour. Swapping out the chocolate chips for chopped dark chocolate deals with the textural issue and adding a chocolate-y backdrop by replacing some of the flour with cocoa nicely addresses the flavour component.
This makes a pleasingly chocolately loaf while still letting the banan come through. It's a nice balance.

My loaf was a bit crumbly and somewhat lacking in structural integrity, but that could've been due to the fact that I ran out of eggs and had to substitute a flax egg. (And then got impatient and didn't wait for the flax egg to properly gel.)

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2020

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c. Dutched cocoa
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 4 bananas, mashed
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 120g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. sugar

Directions

1. Grease and flour a loaf pan and preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine mashed bananas, brown sugar, butter, and eggs.
4. Stir dry ingredients into wet and mix until just combined.
5. Mix in chocolate.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan.
7. Sprinkle top with sugar.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 70-80 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 30 minutes.
10. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack for another 30 minutes before slicing.