Archive for the ‘Breads – Quick Breads’ Category
Quick breads are breads that are made without yeast, hence they are “quick” to prepare. You probably think of banana bread or pumpkin bread when you think of a quick bread, as sweet quick breads are a brunch staple, but there are many savory quick breads out there that make a nice addition to other meals – like this Cheddar Onion Quick Bread. The bread mixes up in a few minutes and bakes in less than an hour, which means that you can even fit it in on a busy weeknight to have fresh, homemade bread along with dinner.
This bread could not be any easier to make, and the resulting loaf is delicious. It has a light, but moist, crumb and packs in a lot of flavor. The onions cook right in the bread, so you get a very sweet onion flavor in the finished bread, which compliments the cheddar cheese nicely. Both sweet onions and regular onions will work beautifully. I tend to use sweet onions, but use what you have on hand. The cheddar also adds a few streaks of orange here and there in the loaf for color as well as flavor.
This recipe could be easily adapted to use other types of cheese – pepper jack would be something spicier, for instance – to suit your preferences and what you have on hand. However you make it, it goes well with all kinds of savory dishes – and since it is so easy to throw together, there is really never a bad time to whip up a loaf. I like to keep it simple and serve it with soups and salads. Classic tomato soup and gazpacho are two of my favorite pairings with this bread. It is good plain and even better when you smear it with a little bit of butter. The bread can be sliced and toasted, as well, to add a little crunch to it.
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It’s always nice to have an easy banana bread recipe on hand, and it doesn’t get much easier than this One Bowl Banana Bread. The bread is mixed up in one bowl in just a few minutes, and uses a more streamlined mixing approach than most banana breads do. I like this kind of recipe because it makes the bread seem very accessible: it requires very little prep and can be stirred up in less time than it takes to preheat the oven.
The bread is soft, with a tight and dense crumb. It has a very good banana flavor, and the cinnamon and vanilla just highlight it even more. The biggest “wet” ingredient in this quick bread is the mashed banana, which is not only flavorful but keeps the bread moist. Bananas can vary in size, so if you have two large bananas you will probably have plenty even if you don’t have exactly 1 1/4 cups of mashed banana. A bit more or a bit less won’t throw off the recipe. The loaf is delicious plain, but can hold up to being toasted and slathered with butter or peanut butter, too. It is perfect when cut into generous slices and eaten for breakfast.
I should also note that this is not the fanciest looking banana bread that you’ll ever see. In fact, it’s a plain loaf that isn’t all that tall, even after baking. This is a banana bread for whipping up when you want a treat for yourself, not for when you want to bring something out to impress a crowd. Of course, after a bite or two anyone will definitely appreciate this easy to make banana bread, even though it comes in a plain package.
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Plain biscuits are a dinnertime favorite for many. The flaky biscuits are perfect for sopping up sauces, and are just as good topped off with butter or jam. Although we pair them with many flavors, most of the time the biscuits themselves are quite plain. It can take your biscuits to a whole new level to infuse a little flavor into them directly. These Rosemary Orange Biscuits are an easy to make variation on your basic biscuit for a sweet-savory side.
The biscuits get their flavor from rosemary, fresh or dried, and from orange zest. The rosemary works well with all kinds of flavors and gives the biscuits a distinctly savory note. The orange zest adds some sweetness into the mix. The biscuits can be served with just about any entree and are delicious when drizzled with honey, too.
I make these biscuits by hand, cutting the butter into the flour mixture to create a sandy meal (just as you might do for pie crust). Kneading the biscuit dough briefly after it has been made leads to a slightly flakier – and higher rising – biscuit. I cut these into squares just for a change of pace, but you could cut the dough with a regular round cutter, as well.
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Soda bread – or Irish soda bread – is an easy to make quickbread that uses baking soda as a leavening agent. What makes it different from other quickbreads is that soda bread dough is very firm and the bread is generally baked in a free-form loaf, much like yeasted breads are. The bread is very easy to make, so you can have a fresh loaf baked and ready to eat in only a few minutes, and it is easy to put your own spin on the basic recipe by adding other flavorful ingredients. A plain soda bread might contain caraway seeds or raisins. This Lemon and Walnut Soda Bread is a citrusy twist on the basic recipe, with a light lemon flavor and subtle sweetness to it.
Lemon and buttermilk is a combination that I often use in springtime baking, both in cakes and bars, and that same combination makes this loaf seem perfect for a springtime brunch. I used both lemon zest and strips of candied lemon peel to give this bread its lemon flavor. The candied peel has a sweeter, more concentrated flavor than the zest alone does and is a nice addition for lemon-lovers (although you can skip it in favor of more zest if you don’t want to make candied peel for this recipe). Walnuts have a buttery, slightly citrusy flavor that makes them a good match for the lemon in this recipe. I use untoasted walnuts, chop them into fairly large pieces and stir them in. Pecans will also work if you prefer them, and you can omit the nuts completely if you want to serve your bread as a plain lemon loaf.
This soda bread is slightly sweeter (although not very sweet) than many other soda breads and stands well on its own, or served with butter and honey. If you want to add a little extra sweetness, add a generous sprinkle of sugar to the top of the loaf before baking to give it a nice, sweet crust.
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Granola is a food that usually stands on its own, as a snack or as a breakfast cereal, but it can be a great addition to other recipes because even a very basic granola has a lot of flavor. Granola is usually made up of oats, fruit, nuts and seeds that are lightly sweetened and baked until they’re crisp. Some variations include shredded coconut, crisp puffed rice or other grains, but all mixes can be very tasty. This Granola Quick Bread is an easy to make loaf that incorporates a lot of heart-healthy granola into a completely different – yet still very tasty – form.
I like big, chunky granola for snacking, but most granola is broken up into smaller pieces and that is what you’re going to want to use in this quick bread recipe because it is easier to incorporate. My granola included oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnut pieces, almond pieces, dried cranberries and raisins. The bread uses quite a lot of granola and it will get most of its flavor from there, but I also added more shredded coconut and some extra raisins to highlight the sweetness of these elements, which didn’t stand out in the plain granola.
The loaf bakes up to be a little but dense, yet tender, and very flavorful. The nuts and the nutty flavor of the toasted oats really come through, but the bread is a little bit sweeter than the plain granola thanks to the addition of brown sugar in the recipe. The loaf is good when it is sliced and served plain, and it is excellent when toasted and served with some butter or cream cheese. The bread keeps very well for several days when stored in an airtight container, too (the flavors meld a bit more), so it can be made in advance and enjoyed a slice at a time for several days.
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