Recipe: Buttermilk Quick Bread

I still had some buttermilk left over (read about the buttermilk brownies I made), so I thought I'd try making a bread with the ingredient, too. I found this recipe on the Kitchn blog, and it seemed easy enough. I also liked that the recipe offered several variations; I love mixing up recipes, so this was right up my alley!

Ingredients

·        2 cups all-purpose flour (10 ounces)

·        1/2 cup white sugar (4 ounces)

·        1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

·        1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·        1 teaspoon salt

·        1 cup buttermilk (8 ounces)

·        1 large egg

·        1/4 cup unsalted butter, olive oil, or vegetable oil (2 ounces)

Directions

1.      Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease or spray with nonstick cooking spray a standard 9x5 loaf pan.

2.      Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Melt the butter, if using. Whisk it in a separate bowl with the buttermilk and the egg.

3.      Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients. Gently stir and fold the ingredients until all the flour has been incorporated and a shaggy, wet batter is formed. Be careful not to over-mix.

4.      Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and pat it into the corners. Bake for 45-50 minutes. When finished, the loaf should be domed and golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing and slicing.

Basic Variations

• Sugar can be reduced to a tablespoon for more savory breads.
• Up to half the flour can be substituted with an alternative flour.
• Replace the buttermilk with a mix of yogurt and milk or milk and a squeeze of lemon.
• Use up to 1 1/2 cups fruits, nuts, olives, cheese, or other ingredients, added to the dry ingredients.
• Use 1-3 teaspoons of herbs or spices, added to the dry ingredient

Reading the variations was helpful to know how much of what I should use. I already planned on using blood orange olive oil, and ended up not having enough, so I used both the orange and lemon olive oil. I also added nutmeg and ground ginger, as well as a cup of dried cranberries. I feel like orange and cranberry are frequently featured together, so why not in this bread I was making?

This is an easy recipe to make, although I ran into a few minor issues. Usually in baking you mix the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl to the side, and you mix the wet ingredients with the mixer, and then add the dry to the wet. In this one, you add the wet to the dry. So I just poured the dry ingredient mixture into the mixer bowl, added the wet ingredients, and used the mixer for just a few seconds to mix everything together. There was a bit of dry mix left at the bottom that didn't incorporate well. But all in all, this was easy and came out nicely. I thought it was yummy, especially with the craisins! Highly recommend doctoring it up with your favorite flavors.