Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Orange Quick Bread

I'm calling this a bread, but it walks a fine line between a quick bread and a muffin-like loaf pretending to be a pound cake. It doesn't have nearly as much sugar or fat as a pound cake, but it's sweeter than a typical beer bread, which is where this idea started.

But there's no beer. That got lost somewhere between the idea and the baking pan.

This bread made me ponder where the line is drawn between bread and cake. It's not the yeast, since there are plenty of yeastless breads. And it's not the sweetness, since there are sweet breads and somewhat savory cakes.

Eh, it doesn't matter. I created it, I'm calling it a bread. Because having a slice of toast for breakfast sounds so much better than having a slice of cake.

This quick bread has a nice citrus flavor and just a hint of sweetness. It's fine on its own, but there's nothing wrong with adding a bit of butter.

Orange Quick Bread

3 cups (13 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray a loaf pan with baking spray. I used a 9 x 5 loaf pan, but a smaller one would be fine.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a small pan, heat the milk and butter just enough to melt the butter. Take it off the heat and add the marmalade and stir to break up the marmalade. Let the mixture cool, then add the lemon juice.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine, then put it in the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 40 minutes, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Remove the bread from the pan and let cool on a rack before slicing.

This was posted on Serious Eats and has been submitted to Yeastspotting.
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