I recently posted a recipe for roasted strawberry muffins that featured some local strawberries. Since I had an abundance of strawberries after my trip to the farmer’s market, I decided to make something else to highlight the fruit.
My family and I enjoy munching on quick breads, so I decided to bake a strawberry bread that we could eat for breakfast or in between meals. I found this particular recipe on Martha Stewart, and it was extremely easy to put together.
The bread was fantastic on the day it was baked, but it seemed to lose a bunch of moisture the next day. I loved the subtlety of the cinnamon paired with the sweet strawberries. I’d recommend making a few changes to this recipe (changes not reflected below). First, I’d roast the strawberries for a deeper and brighter berry flavor (and infuse the juice into the bread). Second, I’d add a bit of Greek yogurt or applesauce (perhaps replacing the water with the yogurt or applesauce) in order to introduce more moisture to the bread, and upping the cinnamon to about 3/4 teaspoon.
Don’t get me wrong – this is a nice strawberry bread. I just think it needs a few tweaks to make it even better.
Strawberry bread
Ingredients
- 1 pint strawberries rinsed, hulled, quartered, and mashed with a fork
- 1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan (or a 9x5 inch loaf pan).
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the strawberries until they boil. Cook and stir for 1 additional minute and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and eggs until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Alternatively add the flour mixture with the water, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined - do not overmix. Turn off the mixer and gently fold in strawberries by hand using a rubber or wooden spatula.
- Transfer the batter into greased loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 45 minutes. Then cover/tent the loaf with aluminum foil and bake an additional 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Turn off the oven, remove the pan from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around edges, invert the bread onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before transferring back to the loaf pan.
Notes