Recipe: Quick buttermilk bread includes plenty of zest
delightfully of fresh orange. (Photos: Kathy Morrison) |
Pairing orange and chocolate is my kind of delicious. I've always loved See's orange creams, chocolate-dipped orange peel and Swenson's Swiss orange chip ice cream. I know not everyone appreciates the marriage of chocolate and fruit; it's a personal preference.
But I also feel that if orange is supposed to be a prominent flavor in something, it really needs to stand out. Orange is so sweet that it can easily be overwhelmed by spices or other ingredients. So in adding chocolate to this quick bread, I made sure the orange flavor wasn't wimpy: The bread has zest from two entire navel oranges.
The recipe is based on a terrific basic buttermilk quick bread from thekitchn.com ; the writer Emma Christensen offers 10 other variations , and ideas to made your own favorite combination. So if you'd prefer coconut, or chopped nuts, or crystalized ginger with your orange, or no orange at all, jump in there. I'll stick with my very orange-y chocolate chip loaf and be quite happy.
Orange chocolate chip quick bread
Adapted from thekitchn.com
Makes 10 slices
Ingredients :
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated
sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
Zest from 2 medium or large navel oranges
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Powdered sugar for topping, optional
Instructions :
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a standard 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, stir or whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest.
In a medium bowl or glass measuring cup, stir together the buttermilk and the egg until blended, then stir in the melted butter and the vanilla extract.
Pour the liquid ingredients over the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Carefully fold in the mini chips -- you don't want to overmix this batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and even it out into the corners. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing it. If desired, dust the top with powdered sugar before slicing.
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Garden Checklist for week of May 12
Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.
* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
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