Monday, February 27, 2012

The Daring Bakers' Challenge was Quick!!

Quick breads, that is. Now what is a quick bread? To me, it's a cake baked in a loaf tin. In my family, if something is baked in a loaf tin, it needs butter slathered on it, no matter if there is already butter in it. This was another challenge that wasn't very challenging, but I made 4 quick breads: pumpkin, lemon-yogurt, banana and Nutella swirl. 2 went to a friend, one was all mine and the last one went to my mother's. I didn't stick around, but I bet she put butter on it.
Pumpkin-spelt loaf
I based the recipe on this one, replacing the whole wheat flour with spelt, the olive oil with grapeseed oil, using my own frozen pumpkin puree, and replacing half the cinnamon with ginger. I should really type out the recipe...
Lemon-yogurt loaf
I made this one to take to a friend, so no sliced photos. We had trouble coordinating our schedules, so this sat, wrapped, on my table for 3 or 4 days before I got it delivered. I just unwrapped it and glazed it with a bit of lemon juice and sugar and it was fine. I used this recipe and pretty much followed it. 
Imagine!
Future Nutella swirls?
I like the yogurt cake linked above so much that I made it again, this time replacing the lemon with vanilla, adding chopped roasted hazelnuts and about half a jar of Nutella. I didn't get the swirls I wanted, as the textures were so different--the batter is quite thin. Next time, I would whisk the Nutella into a portion of the batter for better results.
The cake itself was delicious. It tasted rich and buttery without any butter. We ate it in thick slices with  coffee.
Thanks Lis for stepping in and giving us a fun challenge! Here is the challenge PDF, though once again I didn't use any of the recipes. 

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.




20 comments:

Valerie Gamine said...

Even though I can hear the siren call of that lemon-yogurt loaf, your banana and Nutella swirl bread looks too good to pass up!
Excellent work! (This month's challenge wasn't very "daring,"...I kind of loved it.) :D

Ruth Ellis said...

The pumpkin spelt one gets my vote - it looks delicious!

Unknown said...

Slice of each please, over here! Great job on the variety.

Ei said...

I'll take a slice of nutella swirl, please! Yum!

Evelyne CulturEatz said...

With my current yearning sweet tooth the nutella swirl has my top vote.

Korena said...

Oooooooh these all sound so good! That pumpkin loaf look particualrly lovely. A while ago, I made a banana bread swirled with Nutella and it was awesome - there should be more things swirled with Nutella, I think!

Anonymous said...

You had me hooked with the Nutella swirl bread. That could be very dangerous in my house...

shelley c. said...

Yum, yum, yum and, um, oh yeah - YUM! All of your varieties look absolutely delicious. Of course that nutella swirl bread is calling to me, but the pumpkin spelt loaf is definitely competing in volume! :) Amazing quick breads and awesome job on the challenge.

Joanna said...

Mmm, the Nutella loaf sounds so good!

Audax said...

The yogurt and lemon quick bread sounds so tasty something about yogurt in quick bread and with the zingy lemon that sounds luscious. THe photo of the yogurt looks so pretty. A job well done. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

Vicky said...

Love the looks of the nutella hazelnut quick bread! I'm going to have to try making that!

Renata said...

All of them sound wonderful, Mary! I wouldn't know which one to choose, honestly! Great job on the challenge, as always!

Valérie said...

They all look delicious! I haven't made yogurt cake in years, I forgot how much I like it. That said, Nutella swirl sounds pretty good too!

Carol Anne @ Rock Salt said...

Lots of great flavours in these - how much am I craving Nutella now??

chef_d said...

Yummy loaf flavors, I especially love the nutella loaf, it looks so delicious, great job!

Jenni said...

Wonderful job! Your bread looks amazing! I had to laugh, though, because I grew up in a family where you put butter on your muffin or breakfast bread, but I guess it really is just a cake in a loaf pan, huh? Still delicious, and if that makes it ok to have cake for breakfast, I am all over that! :)

Lisa said...

All of your loaves look great, but I am definitely partial to the Nutella swirl-hazelnut loaf. I SEE SWIRLS of Nutella- seriously! What I would do for a slice of any of them! As always, you blew this challenge away! :)

Wolf said...

I don't care for Nutella but your bread made me hungry anyway.}:P

Suz said...

Chocolate Nutella swirls, HELLO. Actually, your pumpkin spelt loaf is really speaking to me right now. I love the seeds on top. It looks delicious!

Beth said...

They all sound great, but the lemon yogurt loaf is really calling my name!