I have the most delicious bread for you. Serious goodness coming your way. It had such a profound impact on me that I made it last weekend, and then I baked another loaf this week and am already down to a single piece. In my own defense, I brought four slices to work yesterday.
While writing about this apple bread, I began to realize that I have a slight obsession with quick breads of every kind. So if, for some unknown reason, apple bread isn’t your thing, maybe one of these is:
Since the snow keeps falling and the wind keeps blowing here, I don’t think I’ll be getting sick of hearty quick breads any time soon. Anyone else out there have a favorite quick bread recipe? Share them in the comments below!
Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Bread
Adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
The first time I made this bread, I skipped the refrigeration stage. While the bread was still delicious, it didn’t hold together like I wanted it to. The second time, with refrigeration, yielded a much more pleasing result. Don’t skip this step and save yourself some grief.
Ingredients
*3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
*1/4 cup all-purpose flour
*2 tablespoons ground flax seed (optional)
*1 tablespoon baking powder
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*2 large eggs
*1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
*3/4 cup granulated sugar
*2 tablespoons apricot or peach preserves
*1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
*2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
Instructions
*Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the flours, flax seed, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
*In a second bowl with an electric mixer or by hand, beat together eggs, butter and sugar until creamy and well combined. Stir in preserves and ground cinnamon. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in chopped apples.
*Transfer batter to loaf pan and smooth top with a spatula. Refrigerate in the loaf pan for 1 to 2 hours, or overnight. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and just slightly soft in the center. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the loaf and turn out onto wire rack to cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap until ready to eat.
Happy Baking!
Madison