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Monday, July 30, 2007

Bread Baking Day #2: Pear, Ginger,and Vanilla Quickbread


This month's bread baking day is being hosted by Becke of Columbus Foodie. As you can see by my title, she chose "Bread with Fruit" as this month's theme. I had plans to make a bread that begins with a starter made from fermented apples. I forgot about the apples fermenting on the top of my refrigerator and had to toss them out. I'll start that up again soon and make it another time. So, with my busy weekend of Blogathonning I've decided that a quick bread will be my best bet for this event. I love love love ginger and pears aren't too shabby either. This is a recipe I've had for years and years and I'm very happy for the theme this month, as I haven't made it for years and years..I had quite forgotten about it buried in my recipe box. I hope you like it too!

Pear Ginger Quickbread:

1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste (or the same amount of vanilla extract)
1/2 cup small dice crystallized ginger
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
zest of one lemon, minced
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups pears, peeled and diced (medium dice will do) I used Anjou pears, but most should work in this recipe. I've also used bosc with great success
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-Preheat your oven to 350f. Prepare one 9x7" bread pan by spraying it with pan spray.
-Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
-Cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
-Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating well between each addition, mix in the vanilla.
-Alternate mixing in the sifted flour mixture and the buttermilk, starting with 1/3 flour, then 1/2 the buttermilk and so on ending with the flour, mix until the flour just starts to disappear. Fold in the pears.
-Scrape the batter into the prepared bread pan and bake for 50-60 minutes (check earlier if you don't trust your oven).
-Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack to complete the cooling.
Slice, spread with butter or cream cheese, or eat it naked! I think next time I might try this with blueberries instead of the pears. I believe Becke will be posting a roundup for this event on her site in the next few days, I'll have a link up once it is posted!

Happy Baking!


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16 comments:

Karlz + Ma said...

Good work, this looks yum! I love your blog, spent hours last night looking at your chocolate desserts :D

Jen the Bread Freak said...

Thank you, Pinkeagle! Glad you are enjoying it :D. Mmmmmm, chocolate

Jen said...

I am lovin' pears right now and this is definitely going on my growing list of things to make using pears. Thanks!

Jen the Bread Freak said...

You're most welcome, Jenjen! It's such a nice light flavored bread. I hope you like it :)

Anonymous said...

Pears and ginger are one of my favorite combinations,and this looks just perfect. Thanks!

Jerry said...

Everytime I visit your site, you amaze me! Thanks for the wonderful ideas!

Jen the Bread Freak said...

Susan: You're welcome! I'm so happy I remembered it when my apple project went bad :D

Jerry: You are most welcome, hope you enjoy it! Thank you for the compliments :)

Anonymous said...

Please send me a slice or two, right now! :-)

Jen the Bread Freak said...

/me slices off a few pieces for Zorra. I do wish bread lasted longer in mail! It would be great to start some sort of mailing group, wouldn't it? Spread the love with dough!

Tatter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Wow, that must be a tasty quickbread! A great recipe..

Jen the Bread Freak said...

Thank you, Rosa!

Anonymous said...

I just bought some pears today after reading this recipe, and am eager to give this a try :)
I would love to know if you have ever altered the recipe and tried a rough grate (like zucchinis in zucchini bread), with a firm pear, or, have you tried mashing them as you would bananas in banana bread.
Do you find the that rough chop is best, as you get to bite into a piece of pear?
I am looking forward to giving this recipe a try this week.
I also want to have a go at the sour dough bread, but it looks sooo involved. The ginger, pear, vanilla quick bread is for immediate gratification and the sour dough bread will go on my "to do list". Thanks for listing all the steps and great photos, as I am more willing to give it a try.
Love your blog!
Jennifer

Jen the Bread Freak said...

Hello Jennifer! I have never tried grating the pears, I think it's just because I like a nice chunk of pear to bite into. It's a great idea, let me know how it works out if you do it that way. The only worry I would have is that the bread is already so moist that that might push it over the top (although there's nothing wrong with really moist quickbread). I hope you get around to a sourdough sometime! Thank you for your compliments :D

Anonymous said...

YUM! This bread is outrageously delicious! I added toasted hazelnuts because I like a little crunch to my quick breads and the flavors blended wonderfully together.
I am so happy to have a new quick bread to add to my rotation, as banana and apple bread can get old...
Thank you so much for posting it, I will be sure to share it with my friends!

Anonymous said...

hi