Quick: Make me some bread

Is there anything better than a fresh loaf of yeast bread out of the oven? Possibly not. But woman does not live by yeast bread alone, and quick bread is the great utility player that fills the gap between having enough time, ambition and oomph to make that perfect risen loaf that takes hours, and no time at all. Quick breads — for when you're just slightly motivated. (Or have too many zucchini or bananas.) There's a demotivational poster in there somewhere.

The quick part is generally referring to the relatively short mixing time; figure on an hour and a half in between when you fire up the oven and when you actually remove it from the pan. Also figure in time to cool before eating or storing, because most quick breads reward waiting for a full cool down before attempting to slice them. Less mangling that way. 

Almond apricot bread with lemon thyme

From "Quick Loaves," by Jean Anderson, a book that features recipes in a variety of loaf forms, from quick breads to meatloaves. This book takes a quick mix approach, with one variety for quick cake mix approach and one for quick breads. The premise is that you keep the mix on hand in the freezer (it contains butter) so it's ready to pull out when you need it. If you plan ahead, it's fairly speedy, but otherwise it's not going to be a time saver the until the second batch you make. But you might want to after the first batch. She also makes batches of spice mix by the apparent vat, which I probably wouldn't go through while it was at peak freshness, so I opted for Penzey's cake spice instead since I have it on hand, but you could approximate hers with a generous half teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger and a smidge of ground nutmeg.

Ingredients

2½ cups Quick Cake Mix (see below)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon lemon zest (I used a mix of both)
1 teaspoon three-spice mix (see note)
½ cup chopped dried apricots
½ cup sliced almonds
¾ cup milk
1 extra large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a loaf pan, or use the baking spray with flour in it.

Combine cake mix, thyme and or lemon zest and spice mix in a large bowl. Stir in apricots and almonds. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Mix milk, egg and vanilla. Pour into dry ingredients and just barely combine. The recipe specifies leaving it lumpy with whiffs of flour showing to avoid overmixing Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. I had to bake this for much longer than the original range the recipe indicated to have a toothpick come out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then remove it to cool.

Quick cake mix

4 cups sifted flour
2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, chopped

Method

There are two ways to approach this one. 

The original recipe suggests mixing the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor and then removing half of it to a bowl and adding half the butter to the food processor bowl and pulse until it looks like about the size of lentils. Then remove that bunch from the processor and repeat with the remaining half. Store in a gallon freezer bag, making sure to squeeze out all the air. You'll be using only portions of this for the various recipes, so you can refresh with more as you need, mixing any remaining mix together in the bag.

I get why she suggested that approach: There's definitely no way the processor is going to make consistent work out of that large a batch if you try to do it all at once. My take on that method was it would annoy me and get crumbs everywhere, so I instead just measured half the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in separate batches and then combined the two in the freezer bag. Either works; I just figured all that transferring of crumbs was going to make a hot mess that would annoy me more than measuring twice.

Rating: A nice loaf to have on hand for breakfast slathered with butter. The almonds seem to disappear in there once it's baked, but I'm sure there's a background note in their somewhere, and the apricots and cake spice give it a nice flavor. It popped right out of the pan, so points for loaf release. As for how I feel about the mix approach, ask me after I make my second recipe using the mix, and then we'll see if I make a third, which would require me to augment the mix.

Oh, and if you don't speak Midwestern and need a rating decoder ring, "nice" is a perfectly good thing. "Fine" is an OK thing, and "just fine," well, it's not actively bad, but we're certainly not actually raving about it. If we hate it? "It doesn't speak to me."

 

Maple nut bread

From Country Living's "Country Mornings Cookbook"

Ingredients

1 cup flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
¼ cup butter
⅔ cup milk
⅓ cup maple syrup
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.

Combine flours, baking powder, salt and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in ¼ cup walnuts. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, milk and syrup. Stir in egg and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring just enough to combine. 

Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of the batter. Bake for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. 

Rating: Dave said nom nom, but I think that might mainly be because of the topping, which would make anything taste like breakfast. I found myself wondering if I put it on quinoa mixed with kale if it would taste inhalable. The loaf itself is more bread-like than some quick breads are. Carrot and zucchini bread, for instance, really seem more like moist cakes in loaf form, but the whole wheat in this one gives it a bit more solidity, which is not a bad thing when it comes to getting it out of the hot pan. About that: If like me you're used to automatically flipping a loaf upside down to remove it from the pan, be advised that the precious topping is going to try to scatter all over the counter. I just spooned it back on, but next time I might try levering the loaf out of the pan with a large metal spatula instead. 

Dark spices and coffee give this a darker color.

English honey loaf

From "Pillsbury's Best 1,000 Recipes: Best of the Bake-Off Collection." The winning baker was Mrs. Harry A. Winer of Kansas City, Mo., who was a winner in the senior category of whatever year that was.

Ingredients

2½ cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
⅓ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
⅓  honey
1½ teaspoons lemon zest
½ cup cold strong coffee
½ cup chopped nuts
½ cup raisins

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger in a small bowl and set aside.

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at  time, beating well after each addition. Blend in honey and lemon zest. Add coffee and dry ingredients alternately, blending well after each addition. Stir in nuts and raisins. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake 55 to 65 minutes until it passes the toothpick test. (I found it took 65 minutes in my oven.) Let cool for a half hour before removing from pan and cooling fully on a baking rack. 

Rating: Reminiscent of ginger bread, only more breadlike than cakelike and not as sweet. Fine on its own, but better with a slather of butter to soften the spice. Decent texture, and it came out of the pan without a quibble or even the need to tack back a few bottom bits together.

Maxine's black walnut bread

From Midwest Living, August 1995. The recipe comes from Maxine Nelson of Indiana who made this winning recipe for the Elkhart County Fair. 

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 8-ounce carton sour cream
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¾ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped black walnuts

Method

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour an 8-by-4 loaf pan.

Combine sugar, sour cream egg and vanilla in a large bowl. (It did not specify using a mixer and I didn't feel the need of one.)

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into creamed mixture. Fold in walnuts and pour into prepared pan. Bake for 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan to cool completely on a rack. 

Rating: This was the easiest to make out of all the recipes and the most pantry friendly. It also baked just exactly the amount of time specified and came out of the pan perfectly without resistance and without splitting the top. Decent texture and moisture thanks to the sour cream. Really needed no adornment, although I suppose one could apply butter if so desired. I can see why it passed muster with judges. Out of all of the recipes I tried, this one most nearly lives up to its "quick" name. A definite winner in the taste to effort ratio.

Kale salads aren't just for winter

Halloumi croutons are a nice touch.

Many of our local crabapple trees are in full bloom, signaling a seasonal shift. The early blooming varieties are shifting from canopy to carpet as spring waxes and wanes on its way to sudden summer.

So you might think kale season is about to be behind us, since it's often used as a reliable way to get greens in winter. But here's a reminder (to gardeners like me, at least) that kale sneaks up on you, so incorporating some throughout the growing season when the leaves aren't yet riddled with holes will leave you far less to deal with after frost hits.

Kale salad with halloumi croutons and preserved lemons

From Food & Wine, February 2024. I would link to it online, but I can't find it on their site. The original called for mint instead of lemon balm, but I don't do mint and I have an exuberant quantity of lemon balm growing even in winter, since it self sows wantonly and hitches a ride inside in pots.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
1½ tablespoons sherry vinegar
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup
½ teaspoon za'atar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

2 bunches lacinato kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely torn or chopped
1 cup shredded purple cabbage
1 tablespoon thinly sliced preserved lemon peel, about 1-inch long
Canola oil for frying
1 8.8-ounce package halloumi cheese, patted dry and cut into ½-inch pieces
½ cup dried tart cherries
¼ cup fresh lemon balm leaves, chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Method

Combine shallots, olive oil, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, syrup, za'atar and salt in a small bowl.

Combine kale, cabbage and preserved lemon peel. Toss with ⅓ cup of the dressing and massage well into kale leaves. 

Heat ½ inch of canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add halloumi in a single layer. Fry, turning often, until golden brown on all sides. Remove from pan to drain on a paper towel on a plate. Let cool 5 minutes.

Add halloumi cubes, dried cherries, lemon balm and parsley to kale mixture. Serve along with the additional dressing available on the side.

Rating: Tangy. The combo pack of the salty preserved lemons and the lemon balm work well here. And crunchy cheese chunks are just fun. Nicely colorful. 

 

Kale and fennel salad with cherries

Adapted from Dan Buettner's "Blue Zones Kitchen: One Pot Meals," which aims to marry up those flavors we like with stuff that's also good for us and not so time-consuming that it discourages one from making them. I cut the amount of fennel in half because I find that unless it's roasted, fennel can easily overtake a dish. My take is that this serves 6 as a side salad.

Ingredients

1 bunch kale (dinosaur kale works well), stems discarded and leaves torn into bite-size pieces
½ fennel bulb, sliced very thinly (a mandoline does an admirable job, if you have one)
4 to 6 tablespoons apple balsamic vinaigrette (see below)
½ cup pitted fresh cherries
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
Fennel fronds or other chopped fresh herbs for garnish

Dressing:

½ cup apple cider
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves (if you've got lemon thyme, that's a bonus)
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Method

Combine dressing ingredients, either with a whisk or blender until emulsified. Place kale and fennel in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the dressing and massage into the kale. Add more dressing to taste. Top with cherries, pine nuts and herbs. Chill until ready to serve. This benefits from having more time for the kale to absorb the dressing.

Rating: The dressing bears repeating. While it does a decent job of breaking down the kale, I actually appreciated the dressing more when I tried it with a simple lettuce and arugula salad with pepitas. As for the salad itself, it was a good counterpart to an otherwise brown meal. I liked the cherries and pine nuts both flavorwise and for looks. I also drizzled some of the dressing over some chicken before roasting and it worked well as a sort of marinade.

Tuscan kale salad with pecorino and lemon

From  Crate and Barrel

Ingredients

2 small heads of lacinato kale, stems and ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped
3-plus tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 ounces Pecorino cheese
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Method

Place kale in a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with kosher salt an a drizzle of some of the olive oil and then massage it in with your hands for a minute.

In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, mustard, 2 tablespoons grated Pecorino, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until combined.

Pour dressing over kale and toss to combine. Garnish with pine nuts and some Pecorino cheese shavings.

Rating: Super simple and fast to make, and sometimes the simple things are simply good at being what they are. Far less fuss than the other recipes and with fewer odd ingredients to assemble. Not quite as elevated perhaps as the other recipes in terms of ingredients and looks, but I still would feel fine serving it to company.

Super seedy kale salad

From Bon Appetit, Winter 2026, a recipe adapted for the home kitchen from Nick Curtola, executive chef at the Four Horsemen in New York.

Ingredients

For dressing:
1 large garlic clove, finely grated
⅓ cup olive oil
¼ cup almond butter
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (you'll use the zest of a lemon below, so I'd zest it first before juicing it)
¼ cup white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Calabrian chile paste
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons water

Salad:
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts (raw shelled sunflower seeds were listed as an alternative)
3 tablespoons raw shelled pumpkin seeds
Zest of 1 lemon
⅓ cup golden raisins
2 bunches Tuscan kale, ribs and stems removed and leaves thinly sliced

Method
For dressing, in a medium size bowl combine combine garlic, ⅓ olive oil, almond butter, lemon juice, vinegar, chile paste, onion powder, sugar, water and a large pinch of salt and whisk together well, (Incorporating the almond butter takes some vigorous whisking, so I recommend a large bowl than the ingredients would seem to call for to allow for splashing room.)

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium-size non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook pine nuts and pumpkin seeds until golden brown, stirring as you go to avoid burning them. Remove from heat and add lemon zest, raisins and a generous pinch of salt.

Put about a quarter of the salad dressing in a large bowl. Add chopped kale and massage with your hands for a minute to combine. Add enough of the remaining dressing to coat to your liking. Then mix in a quarter of the nut-raisin mixture. Garnish with remaining mixture and serve.

You could pass the remaining dressing on the side for people to suit their taste. For us, adding all of it would have resulted in a completely drenched salad; perhaps the bunch size in the restaurant is different. At any rate, you won't mind leftovers of the dressing, which can be made ahead.

Rating: Dave, unprompted, called this a pleasant combination of flavors and textures. This is a perfectly lovely salad all around. The dressing has a nice balance; you detect a very subtle amount of heat but the almond butter and other flavors temper that. It's a nice combo of crunch between the kale and the nuts. It hits a cook's sweet spot of effort vs. outcome: Fairly minimal upfront effort with good enough for company outcomes. The dressing could have all sorts of uses. This was my favorite of the four recipes I tried and is going in the keeper pile, despite the price of pine nuts.

Leftover factor: Since we made the entire recipe, which is said to serve 4 (quite, quite generously) we had leftovers. We added grilled chicken and a tad more of the leftover dressing for a perfectly passable lunch. 

One more in the pile to try: Better Homes & Gardens posted a copycat recipe of Chick-Fil-A kale crunch salad. I've never been to one, so I can't vouch, but it looks interesting.