Rhubarb!

It’s rhubarb time here in Michigan!  Last week, I received A LOT of rhubarb from a new friend I’ve met because of my new life of living simply.  I’ve never used rhubarb before, so I sent out a Recipe Request.  I received quite a few recipes and now I’m going to start working through them.

First up  is Rhubarb Bread from Laura, a fellow Michigander.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2/3 cup oil
1 1/2 cup diced rhubarb (fresh or frozen (thaw first))
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk mixed with 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp butter

Mix together the topping ingredients.  I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to melt this or just cut together.  I decided to just cut together and 1 tsp of butter wasn’t enough, so I used 1 Tbsp instead – the more butter, the better, right?! Set aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients together, except the topping,

and then the liquids.  Mix together well.  You can use a mixer if you’d like, but Laura says she doesn’t!

Fold in the diced rhubarb.

Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.  I, forever what reason, do not own traditional loaf pans.  I have LARGE loaf pans which I could have used for this 2 loaf recipe.  But I want to share with Mom, so I’m using 2 small casserole dishes that are part of a set I received for my birthday this year!  I love this set – dishwasher, oven, and microwave safe and every piece comes with it’s own carrier, trivet and cover.  Ok, back to the recipe!

I don’t usually flour, but I’ve never used this recipe before, so I did an experiment — 1 greased and floured, 1 greased.  Let’s see how it turns out!

Pour the batter evenly into the loaf pans.

Sprinkle the topping mixture over.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour until done, I used the toothpick method.  Mine took exactly 1 hour.

Cool for 12 minutes before gently removing from pans.

Finish cooling the loaves on a wire rack.  Well, I don’t have a wire rack either, so they are cooling on the board.  The grease and flour experiment?  Both came out easily and look the same!

I clearly still used too wide of a dish.  I really need to invest in some loaf pans! Or I could have used just one pan, but Mom wants a loaf!  I don’t and Mom won’t care that it’s wide and thin.  We like good food!

Mmmm…gooey, sugary, buttery heaven!

And of course, I couldn’t wait until it was completely cooled, I cut a piece and enjoyed it with some homemade butter!  Yes! This is what I remember having as a kid, a sort of sweet bread, with that tang of rhubarb.

Thank you, Laura, for this fabulous recipe, it’s definitely a 5-bell recipe!

Make sure you go to the Rhubarb Bread recipe so you have a nice print out or add it to your Recipe Box!

CindyP blogs at Chippewa Creek.

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