Recipe: Dill Bread

My loaf was...very thin

I have been growing dill in an AeroGarden, and it has gone wild. It is so big! I attempted to make pickles (that did NOT work; I'm trying it a second time, so we'll see how they turn out), but I was trying to find other ways to use a lot of dill at once. I found this recipe on the Savory Moments blog, and since I've never made a savory bread before, I thought I would try it. 

The dill is on the left. Look how tall it is!

Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup olive (or vegetable) oil, plus more for greasing
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon dill pickle juice
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup finely chopped dill pickles
• 2 tablespoons (firmly packed) finely chopped fresh dill weed (or 1 tablespoon dried)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 8"x4" loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour through garlic powder.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil through sour cream. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
4. Fold in the pickles and dill weed until just combined. Spread the batter evenly into the loaf pan.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing and serving.

I didn't bother with the pickles or pickle juice, since I figured those were more for flavor, and I wanted more of a dill taste than pickle taste anyway. But I knew I was in trouble when the instructions said to spread the batter. My batter was so thick, and I couldn't "pour" it as I was expecting. So when I took it out of the oven, I wasn't surprised that it wasn't quite what I had expected. The bread didn't rise at all. The whole loaf was dense and thin. Can baking powder go bad? Was it the light sour cream that I used? I'm not sure where I went wrong.

Luckily, it still tastes pretty good. I like the savory flavor, and I almost think the recipe would be better if some cheese were melted into the batter. It's a little dry, but nothing a little butter or dip can't fix. It's still edible, so not a complete disaster! But I might need to try another dill bread recipe. Luckily, there are many to explore.