The Daring Bakers Make Quick Bread!

Every month I am thrilled to partake in "The Daring Bakers'" recipe challenge. A baker from around the web supplies a marvelous theme, and often a recipe to get started, and sets loose all of the creative cooking energy to be found on the net. The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.







 I'm no stranger to quick breads myself. When I was little, my mom made them all the time. Thus, I thought it'd be fun to mess around in the kitchen and come up with my own recipes rather than following something established. I made sure, however, to write down what I was doing along the way so-as to avoid the "How did I make this??" guessing game come blog-time.


What I ended up with were: 100% Whole Wheat Banana-(optional) Chocolate Chip muffins and a Meyer Lemon Loaf. Both were delicious. Also, they both keep very well! Quick breads often taste better a day after baking anyway (it gives the flavors more time to meld and develop). These muffins lasted almost a full 
week in a container on the countertop without getting dried out, and the second of the two lemon loaves I made just came out of its plastic wrap as moist and flavorful as when it went in. Both would also freeze beautifully. Just wrap them first in plastic and then in aluminum. Or you can slice the loaf and put individual slices in baggies, but if you're going to do that you may as well make muffins instead of a loaf. 


In terms of loaf vs. muffin questions, pretty much every quick bread will work in either form. The only difference should come with baking time. Loaves, since they're bigger, take longer to bake. But you can certainly make my banana muffins into a loaf and my lemon loaf into muffins. 




Banana Muffins


I love banana muffins--my mom made them all the time when I was a kid, and we'd eat them with cream cheese. Sounds weird, maybe, but I promise once you try it you'll never go back. Although I wouldn't recommend doing the banana-chocolate chip ones with cream cheese necessarily. 

I was planning on just making my mom's regular recipe, but then wandering through the Berkeley Bowl (which is this amazing, warehouse-like grocery store with fantastic organic/natural/bulk/local options), I discovered a sale on whole wheat pastry flour and figured I'd try and give this already not-so-very-bad-for-you treat a healthier spin. While I wouldn't call the result diet food, it's a healthier option than your average banana muffin, I think. 

Ingredients


-1/3 cup vegetable oil
-1/4 cup maple syrup
-1/4 cup brown sugar (or all syrup, or all sugar, or you can sub in honey or agave or white sugar or whatever)
-2 eggs
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-3 large bananas, mashed with a fork
-2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I used "Bob's Mill")
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1 tsp. ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Procedure
1. Mix the oil and sugar/syrup together and mix thoroughly, beating in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the mashed bananas


2. In a separate bowl (I'm usually too lazy to use a separate bowl, but it's a good idea), mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

3. Mix the dries into the wets as efficiently as possible, trying not to overmix! Fold in the chocolate, if using. Walnuts or pecans would also work. 

4. Divide the batter among 12 greased muffin cups and bake in a 350°F oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a couple of crumbs or clean. Cool on a wire rack. 








Meyer Lemon Loaf
When I think of California, I think Meyer Lemons. My grandma in Berkeley has a small tree in her backyard, with which I made those lemon-blueberry muffins a few weeks back. (Just so you know, this loaf is pretty different from those muffins, but I do think blueberries would be delicious in it.) My grandparents in Marin have a huge tree with huge, beautiful lemons on it. When I visited last weekend, my grandpa sent me back with a half dozen. I only used 2 and a half for this recipe. 

I imagine that regular lemons would work equally well, but I do think of meyer lemons as being less bitter than your standard lemons, so perhaps one would want to up the sugar slightly. 


This recipe is not-so-healthy. I used less sugar and less butter than the couple of recipes I glanced over called for, and you'd better believe I'm still eating it for breakfast (and snacks, and dessert), but if you want to make a "healthy" quick bread, the banana ones are probably a better idea. This one's super delicious though!




Ingredients
-9 TB butter, softened
-3/4 cup sugar
-3 eggs
-1 tsp. vanilla
-2 TB lemon zest (about 2 large lemons' worth)
-1/4 cup lemon juice (I used 2 lemons)
-3/4 cup milk
-3 cups all-purpose flour
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1 1/2 tsp. salt


Glaze: 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. lemon zest (optional), 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 TB milk


Procedure
1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and beat in the eggs, followed by the vanilla and lemon zest and juice. 


2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and beat into the butter and sugar mix in 3 parts, alternating with the milk. Don't overbeat!



3. Divide the batter into two greased bread pans (I want to say mine were 8" X 4") and bake in a 350°F oven for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean


4. A few minutes before the bread is done, whisk the glaze's lemon juice, zest, powdered sugar, and milk together. When the loaves come out of the oven, pour half the glaze over each loaf. 


5. Move the loaves (in the pans) to a wire rack, and let them stay in the pans until cooled completely...if you can wait.