Quickbread Bonanza

If you have a Joy of Cooking on the shelf and you're not using it, you might be missing out.  I've had one for several years and I return to it again and again.  Its binding is cracked and most of the baking-related pages are covered with a dried mist of dough from errant hand-mixer spray.

While I had some time off this past holiday week, I made a whole bunch of quickbreads: five sets of six mini-loaves. Only four are pictured cuz...well, I dunno.  The missing fifth pretty much looks exactly like the bottom right, just tastes savory instead.  The types I made were two savory (Smoked Cheddar and Chive and Chipotle Cheddar Northern-Style Cornbread) and three sweet (Orange-Cranberry Pecan, Pumpkin Walnut and Pear and Pecan).

 

(Clockwise from top: Smoked Cheddar and Chive, Pear and Pecan Bread,  Orange-Cranberry Pecan Bread and Pumpkin Walnut.)

That's a lot of carbs! Some went as a gift: the lady half of the couple who owns this house is eight month pregnant, so I figured they might need some food stuffs they could stick in the freezer for quick and easy snacking and breakfasting after the baby comes.

The rest went into my own freezer. I have houseguests coming on Monday, and while they will probably feel cheated if all of their breakfast carbs don't come from the Top Pot not too far from my place, I figured it would be nice to have these on hand too.

The Pumpkin-Walnut was my favorite.  Hands down.  Such a great moist texture and delicious flavor.  My landlord, however, noted that the Pear and Pecan was "delicious and addictive."  And if you like savory and spicy, the cornbread recipe is excellent, easy, and gives me great results almost every time.

Some tips I learned from this go-round...

• Only one recipe that I made didn't come from Joy was the smoked cheddar and chive.  However, I'm not in love with the results of the recipe I used, and Joy does have a Beer, Cheddar and Scallion recipe that I've made in the past that would have been a better bet.
• The super-awesome helpful cheese guy at the Wedgwood Laurelhurst View Ridge (I still don't understand what neighborhood I live in) PCC steered me to a Grafton Maple-Smoked Cheddar.  Okay, so it's a little pricey at the PCC but damn!  The smoky-sweet flavor is a knock-out and also, for you vegetarians and vegaquarians out there, it's reminiscent of some kind of meat-oriented breakfast flavor that you probably haven't experienced in a while.  I used it in both the Chive Bread and Chipotle Cornbread.
• The basic method used to make both the Orange-Cranberry and the Pumpkin-Walnut seems nearly foolproof for making a moist and beautifully textured bread.  If you are looking to experiment, I'd recommend working off those recipes as a starting point for a good shot at success.
• The recipes that called for an 8-cup loaf pan, when doubled, originally made nice-sized loaves in the pictured silicone six-loaf dealie.  The 6-cup recipes I should have done 2 1/3 times the volume, but I didn't really figure out the math until I'd already done the smaller recipes.  The loaves were still nice but a little thicker would be better.  If you need help translating pan sizes and cooking times, Baking911.com has a helpful article on it.