Strawberry Bread

We promised you a recipe for Strawberry Bread, and being women of our word, here it is.

I am a frequent baker of these types of fruity breakfast/tea breads.  I am always tempted to call them sweetbreads, but of course, that refers to the thymus gland and pancreas of a calf or lamb.  Not something I'd be inclined to eat, well, ever, but least of all with coffee at breakfast or with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

As a mom who aspires to have her children eat a wide array of healthy, fresh fruit, I tend to purchase a generous basket full each week.  I gravitate towards whatever is in season, but also go for bananas,  and, admittedly, what may be on sale.   But my children don't cooperate.  Son eschews fruit of all kinds, and daughter is selective to an extreme degree--for her to eat fruit it must be perfectly ripe, sweet, textured and without the slightest hint of a bruise.  The result is that the notion of my children grabbing an apple or orange as a snack takes the same route as my date with George Clooney does; that is to say, the express train to fantasy land.

But I persist in buying the fruit, which ends up largely uneaten in its original form and transformed into bread before it spoils, to the delight of the mailman, the school faculty, team coaches, any repairman who happens through the door,  various neighbors and sometimes, even my kids.   So without further ado, here is my latest creation...Isn't the batter a pretty color?

Strawberry Bread
Makes 1 loaf
Heat oven to 350.

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk, plain yogurt or milk
1 3/4 cups fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped

Mix all ingredients.  Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake 50 mins or so until top is lightly golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cooks notes:  You can also make these into muffins--just bake them for about 22 mins.   I avoid muffins because I am lazy; I hate ladling the batter into those annoying little cups; it spills, it drips, it burns, ick.  Plus, I often don't have the paper liners on hand, and greasing those individual tins is unthinkable, so bread it is.    If you don't have a loaf pan, or you are in a hurry and share my neurotic irritation with muffin pans, use a square 8x8 inch baking pan.  Bake for about 30 minutes, using toothpick test for doneness.

Enjoy!