Cheese and Stuff Quick Bread

So last week was Ty's birthday and we did up a big cheese plate for nibbles. Leftovers are to be expected but we had even more than I thought. Plus Ty is now off dairy for a bit and my parents have gone to Europe and asked me to bring the last of the food in their fridge home, which of course included cheese as well as some veggie odds and ends.

Speaking of cheese, our rotary grater broke (well one piece did) and when I contacted the company to ask if I could buy a replacement piece, they told me they would send a whole new grater free of charge. Thanks Fox Run brands!

Right, back to the loaf...

Well we had a bunch of cheese, and Ty wasn't eating any so I needed to bake something with it, preferably that I could freeze. I was originally thinking about cheese scones but then drifted to quickbread. After double checking my solid to liquid ratios this delicious taste of using up stuff was born.

Cheese and Stuff Quickbread



1 3/4 cups whole wheat bread flour
1 cup grated cheese (I used sharp cheddar and local gouda)
2 tbsp white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely diced white onion
1 1/2 tbsp fresh dill
1/4 tsp granulated garlic (or 1 fresh clove, minced)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 F and grease an 8x4 (or 9x5) loaf pan.

Combine first 8 ingredients in medium bowl and mix well. Combine egg, milk, and oil in small bowl and beat together. Add we ingredients to dry and stir until just combined (do NOT overmix). Pour mix into loaf pan and bake for 35 or until a tester inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.

April Spice Rack Challenge - Dill Batter Bread

All right, spice rack challenge time.

April is Dill and I have it growing fresh in my Areogarden. Did you know that you actually need more dill when fresh than dried because the flavour is more subtle, unless of course your dried dill is years old and then there's no flavour at all.

A few years ago one of my friends gifted me a copy of the Joy of Cooking, the 75th anniversary edition. I was pleased with the gift, but it has sat on my shelf now without me really using it. I'd flip though it for a specific recipe now and then and then use one from elsewhere. The other day however, I watched an episode of Anna and Kristina's Grocery Bag where they tested reviews from the book.

It inspired me to get out the book and have a serious read through it. I decided to try the Portuguese Greens Soup along with Dill Batter Bread and oh my, were both delicious. The recipe for the bread is listed below.

Dill Batter Bread - from the Joy of Cooking
1/2 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 cups bread flour (I used a whole wheat/white blend)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3 tbsp chopped fresh dill (or 1 tbsp dried dill)
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg

Mix yeast and water in bowl and let stand 5 minutes.

Combine all other ingredients ASIDE from cottage cheese and egg. I mixed mine in my stand mixer. Add cheese, egg, and yeasty-water. Mix on low speed (or by hand if you don't have a stand mixer - you poor poor soul) until it comes together. Add additional flour or warm water if needed.

Swap to dough hook and knead about 10 minutes on medium-low until dough is smooth and elastic. Oil dough and trasfer to oiled bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise somewhere warm) until doubled (1-1 1/2 hours).

Grease 9-x loaf pan. Punch down dough, form into loaf and place in pan seem side down. Cover again with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Remove loaf from pan and cool completely on rack.

Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

When you have a great crop of zucchini (or a coworker shares from their garden with you a good way to handle excess zucchini is to grate and freeze it in the quantities you typically bake with/use it for. Just flip through your recipes and determine if you need 1 cup, 1.5 cup, or 2 cup portions. I measured mine and then plopped portions in Ziplock bags, flattening the packages out for stacking. I froze 6 cups in three portions for baking throughout winter though you could also add a package to soup or stew for some extra veggie nutrients.

Recipe Adapted from Baking Illustrated
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted)
1/2 cup canola (or vegetable) oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 ts baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Set aside.

Grate the zucchini, using a medium sized grater (If not pulling yours from the freezer and thawing it.) Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until well blended (about 2 minutes). Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.

Makes one loaf.

Banana Oat Muffins

We buy a lot of bananas in our house but often end up not finishing the bunch before they over ripen. I typically toss those ones into the freezer until I feel like baking but upon my freezer tidy earlier this week I realized I had a dozen bananas taking up space in a corner. A double batch of something was in order so I flipped through my favorite muffin cookbook (Pilsbury best Muffins and Quickbreads) for inspiration. I tweaked the recipe by upping the cinnamon, and skipping the topping (unneeded extra sugar). I've also made these muffins with some of the all purpose flour subbed out for whole wheat flour with great success.

Banana Oat Muffins (makes 24)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4 medium bananas (thawed and mashed)
1 cup buttermilk*
6 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs

*While not a decent substitute for all recipes, when baking you can replace buttermilk with a self soured version. Simply add 1.5 tsp vinegar (or lemon juice) per 1/2 cup milk and let sit for a minute to sour.

Preheat oven to 400 F and spray muffins tins with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl until well blended. In a smaller bowl, mix bananas, buttermilk, oil and eggs. Beat well.

Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. A bit of dry stuff still there is fine. You don't want to over mix muffins or they get a little tough and get those super pointed tops.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in a muffins comes out clean. Let sit in pan for 1 minutes and then remove to rack to cool.

Banana Oat Muffins

Store in a tight closing container or freeze (I usually freeze 8 muffins from a batch of 24 so we always have baked goods handy). Four muffins to a ziplock freezer bag works great for us.

Bread for Lazy People -aka- No-Knead Bread

I'd been aware of no-knead bread for quite some time but not having an adequate pot to bake it in it had never been more than a passing fancy. Until I started seeing the latest crop of recipes and pictures of it everywhere. I read the Patent and the Pantry recipe, I read the version in the New York Times that she adapted hers from, I read about Jim Lahey's book, and then I put a dutch oven on my Christmas wish list.

My recipe is not an exact representation of any of the aforementioned ones, but really, they're all pretty close. I love Gwen's method of letting the second rise occur on the parchment paper.

No Knead Bread

-adapted from Jim Lahey, the New York Times and Gwen from Patent and the Pantry-

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 5/8 cups water
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl. Add water. Stir together into a sticky mess. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit on counter for 12 - 18 hours (I recommend mixing it up around 6 pm on a Friday so it can sit over night).

The next morning take a look at it, the surface should have a ton of tiny bubbles. This is good. Flour a work surface and plop the dough on it. Sprinkle flour on to of the dough blob and on your hands to keep them from sticking. Fold dough over on itself a couple of time, cover loosely with plastic wrap (I use the same wrap that was on the bowl) and let it sit for 15 minutes.



Re-flour your hands and form the dough into a ball. Plop ball onto sheet of parchment paper, cover with a clean towel and place in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 2 more hours. (For ease, I wash the mixing bowl during the 15 minute rest and drop the parchment paper right in it for the second rise. That was the towel doesn't touch the dough and if the loaf starts to spread it stays ball shaped). The dough is ready when it is almost doubled in size.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (such as my brand new enamel cast iron Kirkland Signature pot from Costco which is awesome and 6 times less money than a Le Creuset - hence my ability to own one) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Pick up the parchment paper, drop it in the HOT pot (seriously, it's hot, don't touch it with your bare hands).

Cover with lid and bake 25 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes (2o minutes for me in Calgary), until loaf is a nice brown. Pick up the parchment paper by the corners, remove loaf from pot and cool on a rack.



After it's cool, slice it open and smear with butter. It's remarkably airy for homemade bread (because of the long slow rise) and there are good air pockets throughout.

Banana Bread

modified from the Pillsbury Best Muffins & Quickbreads cookbook


3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
3 small-medium mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
*optional* 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 9x 5 or 8x4-inch loaf pan. In large bowl, combine sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat well. Add bananas, milk and vanilla; blend well.

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add to banana mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased pan.

Bake at 350°F. for 50 to 60 minutes (70 minutes in Calgary) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled.