Strawberry Bread

  • Strawberry Bread

    The name sounds rather lackluster, but don’t be fooled… it’s a seriously killer bread that verges on cake territory (especially when you slather frosting overtop as I did in this particular round).  I made this for the first time last year and have been dying to get back at it, but wanted to wait for the right season to do the berry justice.  (We all know that November strawberries aren’t really strawberries.  They’re white things that taste a little bit like strawberries and happen to be painted red by the produce department.)

    The first time I made this recipe I was in the midst of making a crapload of strawberry jam and had an extra few cups of cut cup berries.  I knew when I made the bread that the “strawberry mulch” I had on hand was too soft, too… soupy… intended to be cooked for the jam, after all.  But I used it anyway (since I’m not one to shy away from a recipe for disaster).  And man, am I glad I did.  It made the bread really moist (kind of like a banana bread) and pinkish- which was colossally fun.  Normally I’d cut the berries up into quite discernable pieces, and rely on them to gently flavor the bread as one happened to bite into a berry bit.  Yeah well, when you put the berries in the blender for a quick pulse (or three) to cut them up quite finely, and then let them sit to contemplate themselves in their juices, good things happen when you add them to the batter of this recipe.

    Key texture note: the first time I made this cake (er, bread) I simply sprinkled the top with turbinado sugar to provide some texture.  Afterwards I must have had a change of heart, as I ended up spreading frosting over the loaf/crunchy sugar topping.  The recipients of this experiment were enthralled with the bread/sugar/frosting layers of texture- so I have officially made this odd set of steps part of the recipe.  (By all means, skip the frosting if you’d like- but you’ll miss out on some of the fun.)

    Adapted from Allrecipe’s version…

     2 cups fresh strawberries, finely chopped

    3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

    2 cups sugar (plus 1 tablespoon)

    1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

    1 teaspoon salt

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    4 eggs, lightly beaten

    1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

    TOPPING:

    3 tablespoons turbinado (or other coarse) sugar

    6 cups confectioners’ sugar

    2 tablespoon milk or cream

    1/2 teaspoon vanilla

    1. Preheat oven to 350° and grease two 9 x 5″ loaf pans.
    2. Chop up strawberries into fine pieces (or pulse in a food processor a few times), sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar, and let sit in a medium bowl for at least 15 minutes.
    3. In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda together; set aside.
    4. In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs.  Pour into strawberry bowl, add oil, and stir to combine.
    5. Pour strawberry mixture into the flour bowl and stir until ingredients are just moistened.  Pour into two loaf pans, sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar over each loaf, and and bake for 45 – 50 minutes (until a cake tester comes out mostly clean of crumbs).  Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pans to finish cooling.
    6. FROSTING: in a medium bowl, beat confectioners’ sugar, milk/cream, and vanilla until very well mixed.  Add more milk or sugar to get the consistency you prefer.  Spread over the tops of the cooled loaves, and allow to set before slicing.

    Tips:

    • Strawberry thoughts: try to get the best berries possible for this recipe… it’s like what they say about cooking with wine- don’t cook with a bottle that you wouldn’t love to drink on its own.  I haven’t used frozen berries for this recipe, but I actually think they might work (since they are kind of sloppy and soggy).  Just thaw them and chop them up into small bits just like you would with the fresh ones.  If your berries are dry, make sure to let them macerate longer (sit in a bowl with the sugar to get all juicy)…
    • Muffins?  Why not?  Use muffin liners, and fill 2/3 full (so they don’t overflow too much onto the top of the pan).  Check after 20 minutes to see if they are done.
    • Cream cheese frosting would be just as awesome… try the recipe in the Decadent Carrot Cake recipe and let me know what you think.  No frosting is also an option, if you’d like to keep things simple (or somewhat healthy, for that matter).  But no frosting is no fun- just a head’s up.
    • Freeze?  Yes!  I recommend freezign without the frosting (so it doesn’t get all smooshy), but whatever.  If you do freeze after icing the loaves, then just wrap after you have chilled the bread first, so it maintains its structure.
    • Enjoy.  I think you’ll really like this one (at least I hope you will). :)
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    August 22nd, 2012 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: ,

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