It always helps to have a Quick Bread recipe

Hello everyone! I'm sure by now, after all the festive celebrations, yearly roundups and some high ideal resolution making, life is back to its routine. Great, now we can chat without the fireworks and marathon cookie baking session to interrupt us. Just kidding, hope 2012 is proving great in every sense of the word.

Today while doing my usual blog hopping and blog discovery, I came across the term BC. Now only difference was that this signified a life "before child". How true is that?? As all mothers out there will nod there heads in great unity about a life that seems to be from a different era. The one that was where time was at our mercy, not the other way round. The only planning needed was to utilise it and not in how to squeeze precious moments for ourselves.

And this struck even more because I found this term while I was eagerly googling for a "quick bread" recipe. Couldn't help but wonder, that why do I need a quick bread recipe, when there so many great traditional bread recipes out there. Well simply because with a demanding kid right there, you never know what you would be doing when's its time to deflate the dough, or leave it aside for second rise. In all these unpredictable situations, it surely helps to have a nice "quick bread" recipe.

Now this recipe, which is originally from 101 cookbooks, uses a blend of all purpose flour, whole meal flour and oats. And uses honey in place of sugar, making it a nice and healthy go to bread. With a simple act of mixing all ingredients and leaving it to rise for 30 mins, before baking, there's not much that a kid can meddle with!!

So if you need a side dish to serve along with your pasta, or if you just realized that the loaf in the fridge has finished or if just feeling hungry, this is the answer to all those quick bread needs. After all what can beat the aroma of freshly baked bread, hot from the oven? Absolutely nothing!! So just slice the loaf and butter it generously to have a hearty bite.

Quick Brown Bread Recipe

Recipe Source: Cook Republic

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole meal flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

2 1/4 tsp/ 1 packet instant yeast

1 tbsp honey

1 1/4 warm water

1 tsp salt (Refer Note)

Method:

Sprinkle yeast in the warm water. Add honey and give a stir. Leave it aside for 10-15 mins, till the mixture becomes frothy. (Indication that the yeast has acted, else discard the mixture).

Butter the bottom and sides of an 8" loaf tine. Keep it aside.

Mix the flour, oats and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture and blend it well.

Spoon this mixture in the prepared tin. Cover it with a wet cloth and leave it in a warm place for 30 mins to rise.

Preheat oven to 350F. Remove the cloth and place the loaf tin in the pre heated oven. Bake for 35-40 mins, till browned.

Serve warm with butter or jam

Note: Orginal recipe states 1/4 tsp sea salt flakes. But as I like my bread to have more salt and like to eat it with unsalted butter, I increased it to 1 tsp salt. So adjust as per your liking). Also next time I would try adding few herbs and cheese in it for added flavours. Will let you know that tastes.

Sharing this loaf with Bake Fest the event started by Vardhini and being hosted by Pumpkin Farms and with New Year, New Dish event by UK Rasoi.