Quick Bread Week

Not that it takes much effort or skill, but I have mastered quick breads. I can whip together muffins, scones, or a loaf in no time at all, and so I do quite often. I haven't yet mastered yeast breads or pastries, so those are far less likely to come out of my oven. My mother, who makes beautiful buns and gorgeous pie pastry, would tell me that's because I only do things that I can do better than everyone else. I don't think I'm quite THAT competitive, although some friends and family might beg to differ. I do hope to eventually make time to master those as well, but in my present situation, there are no materials available for the making of time.

Like bar cookies instead of drop cookies, I am learning the benefits of loaves over muffins, for both the simplicity of just dumping the batter into one pan as well as the longevity factor. Recently, I made a batch of golden raisin oat bran muffins. They were good, but after we enjoyed them warm and for breakfast the next morning, they languished on the counter until I had to throw them out. I don't really like day-old muffins, whereas somehow loaves seem to improve over a couple of days. Probably has to do with less overall surface area.

Besides the oatmeal peach bread (which was posted on line at Slow Like Honey) that I made earlier in the week, I also made a buttermilk-rye loaf, also from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking cookbook, in an effort to use up local farm buttermilk and butter (that I get delivered to my door!) that I had in my fridge. I was disappointed in the peach oatmeal bread at first, because it seemed quite dry and crumbly (and was listed as 'low fat', with only 1/4 cup of oil). It actually cured and improved over a couple of days, so I would make it again—probably with extra peaches.

The buttermilk-rye loaf, with its hints of orange and caraway, was absolutely delicious with cream cheese. Once again, I thought I might be able to freeze some of what I'd made, but no such luck. It's pretty much all gone. I will certainly place another order for buttermilk in the future—and the fresh farm butter is gorgeous spread over all kinds of breads and muffins.