If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with access to gorgeous red strawberries in February, I highly recommend you use them to make this walnut-strawberry quick bread. It’ll take you all of about 7 minutes to make the batter, and the hardest thing you’ll have to do is mash the strawberries. For your effort, you’ll be rewarded with a moist, slightly sweet bread loaded with strawberry flavor that would be perfect for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the lemon zest wasn’t lost among the other flavors in the bread – you’ll definitely notice its brightness. The recipe calls for a 9×5 pan, but I baked my loaf in an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 pan without issue (the cooking time was the same as the recipe suggests for the larger pan). The bread gets even better on the second day, if it lasts that long...
By Tracey
Walnut-Strawberry Quick Bread
from King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (2 oz) chopped walnuts
- 1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 oz) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (7 oz) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups mashed strawberries
- 1/2 cup canola (or vegetable) oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 9×5 loaf pan (or, even easier, spray with the cooking spray with flour).
Combine the lemon zest and sugar in a medium bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers until the sugar is fragrant and has a texture similar to wet sand. Add the walnuts, flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg to the bowl then whisk to combine. In a large measuring cup whisk the eggs, mashed strawberries and oil until blended. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top of the loaf is browning more than you’d like, you can tent with foil (I tented mine around 40 minutes). Remove the pan to a wire rack. Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes then turn it out and let it cool completely on the wire rack.
