Strawberry Bread

Unusual and unique. Not what we expected at all, but definitely worth it.

Ingredients

• 1c chopped strawberries (I don't know, but I'd imagine it's more like 1.5c un-chopped?)
  
• 1.5c white flour
  
• 1/2 granulated sugar plus a teaspoon
  
• 1.5tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/2tsp salt
  
• 1/2tsp baking soda
  
• 1/4tsp baking powder
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 1/2c vegetable oil
  
• brown sugar for crumbling on top
  

Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine the strawberries and the teaspoon of granulated sugar and toss. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil to the strawberries and stir around, then add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour into a lightly greased and floured 9x5" bread pan. Crumble some brown sugar on top (optional). Bake about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (so long as you don't pierce a strawberry). Could take as few as 40 minutes, depending on the rack in the oven and whether or not you, like I, have a pizza stone in the oven all the time.

Thoughts: Claire and I were surprised by the dark whole-wheat flavor of this bread even when we used white flour. I mean, the bread turns pretty dark brown and has kind of a caramel, nutty flavor. Weird. What caused that? Was it the egg? Hm. Anyway, this version isn't too sweet. The original recipe we stole this from (by someone named Ellen Rainey who posted to allrecipes) used double the sugar and no baking powder. I can see why some people might prefer more sugar, but I actually like it this way. And then if you want it sweeter you can drizzle a slice with some honey. Overall, this recipe surprised us. Really delicious, though.

Future variations: cut down on the cinnamon and add some vanilla instead. Add other berries, particularly blueberries. Bake in a bundt pan?

Disaster Index: 1/10