| |
| |
|
Your Recipe Center |
We love moist, fruity quick breads--and this is one of our favorites. It's nutty, flavorful, and full of wholesome ingredients. We would like to share this recipe with you and demonstrate the baking principles for wonderful quick breads.
The definition of quick breads is imprecise. Often cookbooks classify muffins, coffeecakes, and biscuits as quick breads--not just those moist loaf breads made without yeast--breads like banana nut bread and date nut bread. And there is a thin line between quick breads and cakes. Quick breads contain less sugar and fat than cakes. They usually, but not always, contain fruits or nuts to add flavor and moisture and make up for the low percentage of fat and sugar. When we refer to quick breads, we're talking about loaf-shaped breads without yeast.
There are two major makeup methods for quick breads--the muffin method and the creaming method. In the creaming method, we cream the fat (butter or shortening) with the sugar until light and then add the other ingredients. In the muffin method, we mix the liquids and the dry ingredients separately and then stir them together until just combined. Today, we will look at the muffin method.
In preparation, grease an 81/2-by 41/2-inch loaf pan. Dust the pan lightly with flour by placing a spoonful in the greased pan and jostling it about by tapping the pan against the heel of your hand. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the rack placed in the center of the oven. Your pan should have an even coating as shown.
Here are the ingredients that we will use in our liquid mix:
3/4 cups very hot water
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup (5 ounces) diced dried apricots
1 tablespoon orange zest
3/4 cup orange juice
1 large egg
1. Heat the water until very hot, nearly boiling. You can do so in the microwave. Pour the water into a large bowl. The bowl should be large enough to mix the batter in.
2. Add the butter.
3. Dice the apricots into 1/4-inch pieces and add them to the hot water.
4. Grate the outer skin from an orange until you have a tablespoon full. You only want to get the orange peel without scraping deep enough to get the pithy white second layer, which is bitter. Add this zest to the hot water mixture.
5. Squeeze the juice from two oranges. Add 3/4-cup of the juice to the liquid mixture.
6. Stir in one large egg. Use a fork to mix the egg well.
In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients together:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup walnuts
Make sure that they are thoroughly mixed. We like to use a large whisk.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir with a large spatula until just combined. If it is mixed too much, the action will develop the gluten in the flour and the bread will not be as tender as it should be. (We don't like to make muffins and quick breads with our electric mixer.)
8. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and place it in the oven. Bake the bread for 40 to 45 minutes or until the bread tests done. When it is done, a skewer or large toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf should come out clean.
9. Let the bread cool in the pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Invert the pan and remove the loaf to finish cooling on the wire rack. If the bread does not come free easily, the top edges of the loaf are probably bound to the pan. Try lifting the edges away from the pan with a sharp knife.
Store the bread in the refrigerator where it will keep for up to a week. This bread, like most quick breads, is much better served the next day. The bread can also be frozen.
Peach Variation. This bread is just as good with dried peaches instead of apricots.
For more articles like this visit The Bakers' Library.
© 2004 The Prepared Pantry
Amid Roasts and Recipes, Rehabilitation New York Times, United States - By GINIA BELLAFANTE You’ve got to be some kind of Scrooge, some kind of high middlebrow purist, if you don’t think that the makers of “The Chef Jeff ... |
Yet another restaurant recreates popular Mughlai recipes Indian Express, India - The menu is a mix of typical North Indian curries and interesting kebab recipes. Chef Ghanim Bin Hairat, after spending several years at The Great Kebab ... |
Get Jeff Henderson's Tasty Recipes ABC News - After serving nearly a decade in prison on drug charges, Jeff Henderson turned his life around by turning toward food. In 2001, Jeff became the first ... Leftovers, snacks and more |
 Telegraph.co.uk | Delia Smith's recipes: apples Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - With that in mind the first two recipes are very much in that traditional vein. The first is also a really economical way of serving six people. |
 Telegraph.co.uk | Delia Smith's recipes: cider-glazed pork chops with a confit of ... Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - This next recipe includes a 500ml bottle of strong dry cider, which altogether is the exact amount required for the glaze and the confit. ... |
 New York Times | Recipes for Health Red Chard, Potato and White Bean Ragout New York Times, United States - This series offers recipes with an eye towards empowering you to cook healthy meals every day. Produce, seasonal and locally grown when possible, ... |
 Albert Lea Tribune | An extreme recipe makeover can happen in your home Albert Lea Tribune, MN - Well, you may not be aware of this, but an extreme recipe makeover can happen right in your own kitchen! A recipe makeover can enhance your recipe by ... |
 Telegraph.co.uk | Delia Smith's recipes: baked Bramley apple and almond pudding Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - Chefs are not keen on Bramleys because they smash down to a fluffy mass, but for home cooking their unique fragrance and flavour is unmatched. ... |
Delia Smith's recipes: slow braised belly pork with bacon, apples ... Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - In a large flameproof casserole heat the lard to smoking hot. While it's heating trim off any excess fat from the outer edges of the pork and season them ... |
 Rome News-Tribune | Chili recipes, campsites focus of Trout Unlimited annual chili cookoff Rome News-Tribune, GA - His chili, he said, was different from the 102 other varieties of chili because he added finely chopped okra to his recipe. "I also have Black Angus prime ... |
| home | site map |
| © 2007 |