Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread #BreadBakers

This Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread is leavened with baking powder and soda, no waiting on a rise. It mixes up quickly. Enjoy a savory, tasty loaf with only 55-60 minutes of baking.

This month my fellow Bread Bakers and I are sharing recipes to celebrate the harvest, using seasonal produce. Where I am right now, spinach is a year-round crop so it’s always seasonal! 

I almost always have a bag of fresh spinach in the refrigerator to eat as salad or to toss in pasta dishes, soups and stews. Spinach adds flavor and much needed vitamins and iron to any diet. I always have frozen spinach in the freezer! 

Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread 

This recipe was adapted from one on Every Day Healthy Recipes. Do not skip the spinach drying step to make sure your bread batter is not too wet. 

Ingredients

4 oz or 115g fresh baby spinach

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 oz or 84g extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

3/4 cup or 185g Greek style natural yogurt

3 tablespoons canola or other light oil, plus extra for the pan

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 large clove garlic, finely minced

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 9.5 in or 23cm loaf pan by greasing it lightly and lining it with baking parchment. 

Rinse and dry your spinach thoroughly with a salad spinner or, if you don’t have one, put the spinach in a clean towel and go outside and swing it around vigorously so that centrifugal force dries it out. If your spinach says wash and ready to eat, just do the drying part.  

Chop the spinach roughly with a knife then pulse it in a food processor until finely chopped but not pureed.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, soda and salt and stir thoroughly using a whisk. Tip in most of the grated cheese, reserving some for the top, and stir to coat it with the flour mixture. 

In another large bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, yogurt and minced garlic until well combined.  

Add the chopped spinach and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Pour the spinach mixture into the flour bowl and fold gently until just combined. 

Spoon the thick batter into your prepared pan, smooth out the top with a spatula or spoon and sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top. 

Bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean). If it browns too much before it’s cooked through, cover the top with foil. 

Remove the loaf from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes then lift out of the pan with the paper and place on a rack to cool. 

Once cool, slice to serve. This bread was wonderful just as it is and also excellent toasted.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it's Bread Baker time and we are sharing recipes with seasonal produce. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm.

• Broccoli & Oats Sandwich Bread - Gluten Free by Sneha’s Recipe
• Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Cranberry Orange Beet Bread by Palatable Pastime
• Honeyed Spelt and Oat Levain by A Messy Kitchen
• Pomegranate and Blueberry Jam Milk Buns by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Pumpkin Nasturtium Pull Apart Bread by Cook with Renu
• Sweet Potato and Cranberry Quick Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Winter Squash Sourdough Boules by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

 

Pin this Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread! 

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Banana Split Quick Bread #BreadBakers

This banana split quick bread is baked with all the things you love about that special dessert, save the ice cream. Serve it with a scoop, if desired but it’s wonderful treat all on its own. 

For this month’s Bread Bakers I’m the host so I decided to take ever-popular banana bread and ask my fellow bakers to put their own spin on it. I didn’t have a recipe in mind myself and then suddenly, the deadline to bake was upon me. 

Inspiration struck at my local grocery store where some clever person had put together the ingredients (sans ice cream since it wasn’t in the freezer section) for banana splits in the hope that shoppers would take the hint. 

Crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries, chocolate sauce, pecans and, of course, bananas. Like most independent ideas I seem to have, I discovered that this one has been done before. Deep sigh. 

Banana Split Quick Bread

This recipe is adapted from one on Taste of Home. Among other changes, and since it’s cherry season, I used fresh ones instead of maraschino cherries. If you like them, feel free to use them. They do make a brighter show when the bread is sliced. 

Ingredients

1/3 cup or 75g butter

2/3 cup or 132g sugar

2 large eggs

1 3/4 cups or 218g all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup or 185g mashed ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 medium)

1 can (8 oz or 227g) crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 cup or 90g semisweet chocolate chips

3 1/2 oz or 100g fresh cherries (weight after stemming and pitting – about 1/2 cup chopped)

1/2 cup or 60g chopped pecans

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line a loaf pan with baking parchment. 

Chop the cherries with a sharp knife.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the first egg and beat until incorporated.

Add the second egg and beat well. 

Beat in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, bananas and pineapple. 

Fold in the chocolate chips, cherries and pecans.

Spoon your thick batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top. 

Bake at for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pan about three-quarters of the way through. If the top is brown before it’s cooked in the middle, cover the loaf lightly with some foil. 

Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

If you can resist, leave to cool completely before cutting. 

I just couldn’t wait and so the bread knife kind of smeared the warm chocolate bits on the cut slices. No matter, still tasted delicious! 

 

Enjoy!

Do you like banana bread? If so, this is your month for Bread Bakers! Check out all the creative recipes below. 

• Air Fryer Banana Blueberry Oats Muffins from Cook with Renu
• Banana Cinnamon Rolls from Passion Kneaded
• Banana Split Quick Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Coconut Flour Banana Bread - Gluten & Sugar Free from Sneha’s Recipe
• Simply Banana Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Sugar Free Sourdough Banana Bread with Pecans from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Tangzhong Banana Buns from Magical Ingredients
• Triple Berry Banana Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Yeasted Banana Sandwich Bread from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Banana Split Quick Bread!

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Wholemeal Soda Bread #BreadBakers

Wholemeal soda bread is simple to make, quick to bake and toasts up like a dream. It’s perfect for sandwiches or just smeared with butter and jam. 

This recipe is adapted from one by Irish chef and founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School Darina Allen. She calls it Mummy’s Brown Soda Bread. I found it in several places on the internet, one with a note that at 82 years old (published in 2007) her mother Elizabeth O’Connell still made this loaf every day. 

Of course, that meant I had to find out if the ole gal was still baking now at a possible 95 years old, which led me to the most wonderful tribute to Mrs. O’Connell who sadly passed away on April 17, 2008. Chef Allen speaks of making this very bread as a young child in a mom-sewn apron, forming her own little loaf from a piece of her mother’s larger ball of dough. 

By all accounts, Mrs. O’Connell was a remarkable woman. Widowed at 36, she gave birth to her ninth and last child a month after losing her husband. She cooked them wholesome, healthy food, using produce from her kitchen garden, milk from the family cow and chickens she raised. Chef Allen recounts that her mother was still baking this soda bread, even after suffering a stroke, with her “good hand.” What a woman! I wish I could have met her. 

Wholemeal Soda Bread

I called this bread wholemeal soda bread since that is what whole wheat flour is called in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Here in the US, it’s known as whole wheat flour, of course. 

Ingredients

1 tablespoon white vinegar

About 1 2/3 cups milk

1 3/4 cups or 210g wholemeal (whole wheat in the US) flour

1 3/4 cups (218g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda 

2 tablespoons butter, cut in cubes 

1 egg

Method

Preheat the oven to 425°F or 220°C and line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. 

Put the tablespoon of white vinegar in your measuring cup then fill it to the 1 2/3 cup or 393ml milk. Set aside to sour. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and baking soda. 

Add the butter in small cubes and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles bread crumbs. 

Make a well in the center.

In another bowl, whisk the egg with the sour milk and pour most of the liquid into the flour mixture. 

Using one hand like a claw, bring the flour and liquid together gradually. I used my Swedish whisk and I recommend you do too, if you have one. They sure make mixing dough less messy. 

Add more of the sour milk mixture, if necessary. The dough should be quite soft, but not too sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and gently bring it together into a round about 2 inches or 5cm thick. I used a floured scraper for the shaping. Transfer it to your prepared baking pan.

 Use a sharp knife or a lame to  cut a deep cross on top. Chef Allen calls this blessing the bread. Next poke a small hole in each quarter. These are to allow the fairies to escape. 

Bake for  in the preheated oven 15 minutes then turn down the heat to 400°F or 200°C and bake for about 30 minutes more. 

When it is done, the loaf will sound slightly hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Remove from the baking pan and place on a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy! 

Check out all the other lovely brown breads my Bread Baker friends are sharing today. Many thanks to our host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Anadama Bread from Passion Kneaded
• Boston Brown Bread from Pastry Chef Online
• Brown Sandwich Bread from Anybody Can Bake
• Copy-Cat Cheesecake Factory Brown Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Copy-Cat Outback Steakhouse Bread from Making Miracles
• Golden Braid of Bern from What Smells So Good
• Irish Brown Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Molasses Rye Slider Buns from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• No Knead Sprouted Wheat and Flax Seed Sandwich Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sourdough Molasses and Honey Brown Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Traditional Steamed Brown Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Whole Wheat Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread from Ambrosia
• Wholemeal Soda Bread from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Wholemeal Soda Bread! 

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