Monday, February 27, 2012

THE DARING BAKERS’ FEBRUARY, 2012 CHALLENGE: Quick! Gimme a Flavor! ;)

The Daring Bakers' February 2012 host was--Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

So what are quickbreads? Lis shared Epicurious' definition as: Bread that is quick to make because it doesn't require kneading or rising time. That's because the leavener in such a bread is usually baking powder or baking soda, which, when combined with moisture, starts the rising process immediately. In the case of double-acting baking powder, oven heat causes a second burst of rising power. Eggs can also be used to leaven quick breads. This genre includes most biscuits, muffins, popovers and a wide variety of sweet and savory loaf breads.

This challenge was really fun because we were given pretty much a free hand and I decided to experiment with some of my favorite ingredients. Apples, beets, chocolate chips, cheese etc...yes, I just wrote beets. I made apple-beets muffins and they were delicious and very pretty...and I'm sure healthy too!

The muffins came out really delicious...the texture was great. The whole house smelled yummy while I was baking them.

So I followed the Basic Loaf recipe that Lis shared, and added about 1/2 cup of Chocolate Chips. It came out delicious tasting, although the crumb was not as I expected.

The second loaf I made to which I added Quezo de Bola (Edam Cheese) and Spring Onions produced a crumb that was a lot better.

Thank you Lis for this challenge, it was fun experimenting and really delicious! Check out the other Daring Bakers' quickbreads here.








12 comments:

Kitchen Belleicious said...

apple and beets together? It sound so interesting and flavorful! YUM!

bakercoz said...

Everything looks so good! Way to try 4 recipes! I love the defination of quick bread in your blog, very informative!!

Sandie Lee said...

The apple and beet are going to be the ones to beat (sorry I couln't help myself) Great work!Best, Sandie

The Betz Family said...

Wow, those look great! I may have to try your apple and beet muffins. We love beets, but I have never thought to put them in a muffin. Nice job on the challenge!

Renata said...

I love using beets in cakes too! I'm sure your muffins were a lovely pink color inside :o) I regret not having made a savory loaf, your cheese and spring onions looks so delicious!
Amazing job!

Anonymous said...

All your quick breads look absolutely delicious! Never tried apple and beets together- but they do look pretty!

Lisa said...

Apples and beets? That is so unique and what a gorgeous muffin you got! I love it!! I'm dying to try one! The chocolate chip loaf and edam and scallion bread look amazing too! As I always say..I'll have a bit of everything! :)
l

Suz said...

Such beautiful quick breads. :) I've never tried beetroot in baking before, but I'm really intrigued by the apple/beet combo. They look delicious and so pretty too!

rajani said...

Loved all your quick breads, esp the apple beet muffin. I tried leaving a comment a day back here, but finally didn't after two rounds of spell check :(.

Great job on the challenge and love all the clicks :)

Rosy said...

Hi there. Thank you for dropping in at my blog. I'm planning to try the sprig onion and cheese bread soon. Yours looks great.

Bourbonnatrix said...

love your contribution to this month's challenge! looks great!

shaz said...

You certainly tried a fair few flavour combinations! I like chocolate chip loaf best :)