Daring Bakers February Challenge: Quick Bread

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.

Wow! First time I completed a challenge on the first day! And luckily I did as I've spent the rest of the month in a cast.  It's still on, making typing a chore...

The day the challenge was issued, I had an apple on the counter that needed to be used, so I made an apple cinnamon quick bread. I mostly followed the Serious Eats recipe, but I substituted a little spelt flour for regular flour, upped the spices, and sprinkled the top with turbinado sugar before baking. 

Yum!
I love the sparkly top and the deep rich flavor. This pairs up well with a straight shot of espresso, especially after the second day when the bread becomes just a little drier.
The next bread I made was inspired by the Barefoot Contessa. I have her gorgeous book "Barefoot Contessa Parties!" and refer to if often--if for no other reason than to droooooool. Luckily, the recipe for her lemon cake is also available online. (Lemon cake, we DB'ers decided, becomes a healthy bread if you bake it in a loaf pan...)

Now, I had no fresh lemons in the house, so I just substituted the stuff from a jar.  Amazingly, it still tasted divine.  The pretty yellow color comes not from rind, which I didn't have, but from the wonderful eggs my chucks are laying.  They've adjusted to the move and are back on track with their egg-provision duties. 

Okay, the fingers are cramping up, the dog is tangled in the keyboard cord, and the pain meds are wearing off.  I'll leave you to drool over the other Daring Bakers' challenges, which you'll find right here!