Pancakes and Berries

The big, fat olallieberries are almost finished and with the heat starting up today by tomorrow or Sunday they will all be overripe or dried up.

That was certainly an incentive to pick a few baskets of them to take to the trainers at the gym and a few more baskets to use here at home. I even froze a basket full on a cookie sheet, then transferred them after they were frozen to a storage freezer bag for later use.

One of the great things about them is that they are ready to use after being picked...just a quick rinse is needed. We also have strawberries from our garden (a few) and from the roadside stand on Hwy. 12 (a lot) so on Monday morning I made pancakes from the Joy of Cooking cookbook, changing it a bit to make it dairy free and to use some whole wheat flour. About a half pint of the olallieberries went into a pot with an equal amount of sliced strawberries and some brown sugar and water to make a sauce. It simmered away while I made the pancake batter and chopped some walnuts.

Because I was a little short of the needed amount of soy milk, I added some yogurt (yes, I know it is dairy but for some reason I can tolerate yogurt), so I also added some baking soda to the dry ingredients. That made for tender, delicious pancakes that became nice and puffy as they cooked. Each pancake had about a half dozen fresh olallieberries plunked on after I put the pool of batter in the pan. When the pancake was turned to cook the other side, those berries were cooked, too.

So to serve there were two good sized pancake with berries embedded in them, a topping of more fresh olallieberries and strawberries, a good dollop of the berry syrup, including cooked berries, and a nice sprinkle of chopped walnuts. It was amazing! Nothing else was needed. The pancakes soaked up the sweet-tart berry juices and the walnuts gave it all a little crunch. You could also use blueberries or raspberries or any combination that pleases you...peaches and blueberries anyone? Summer fruits really get the creative juices flowing.

Happy summer! Don't these look delicious? The syrup really added another dimension.

Wheat Pancakes with Berries
based on recipe in Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 cup milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 pint fresh olallieberries, rinsed and drained
1 pint fresh strawberries, rinsed, drained and hulled, then sliced
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
Berry Compote (recipe follows)

In a large bowl combine the flour, whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
In a small bowl rub the lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar looks damp like sand at the beach. Combine this sugar with the dry ingredients.

In another medium bowl combine the eggs, melted and cooled butter or margarine, milk, and yogurt.

Combine the wet mixture with the dry mixture, stirring only long enough to dampen all the dry ingredients. This short mixing will make the pancakes more tender.

Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle or heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat and grease lightly with butter or margarine. When a water drop sizzles, use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to ladle batter onto the cooking surface, spreading it with the cup if needed to make a pancake about 4-5 inches in diameter. Place 5-6 olallieberries on each pancake circle. When the small bubbled begin to burst around the edges of the pancakes, use a spatula to look under the pancake at the edge. If it looks golden brown or browner, flip over with the spatula quickly so that the berries stay with the batter.
Cook on the second side for a few minutes until a peek under shows that the pancake is browned on both sides.

Serve at once with the berry compote, fresh berries and a sprinkle of chopped walnuts.

Berry Compote
In a small saucepan combine 1 cup olallieberries (or blackberries or blueberries), 1 cup sliced strawberries, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 1/4 cup water. Cover and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove cover and simmer until syrupy. Watch once cover is removed and stir as needed to keep fruit from scorching. Serve with pancakes, waffles or over ice cream or yogurt.

July and Meatballs

July is one of those months that hold beginnings and endings for me. It was the month I met my first husband and the month, years later, when I left him. I was the month of my first sleep-over camping experience as a girl, the month I started my last job, and the month we lost our son in an auto accident over a decade ago.


It was also the month, in 2008, when a wonderful blogger, Sherry Cermak of the What Did You Eat blog died of a heart attack. She was very young and touched a lot of hearts with her blog. A number of bloggers honored her by making something from her blog. I made Turkey Meatballs with Plum Sauce, inspired by a post of hers. Today, starting off the month of July, I made the recipe for dinner, making a few changes as I usually do. I always think of Sherry now when the plums come in. They are just ripening, so I used a few from my tree for the sauce. If you choose to make this dish, think for a moment of Sherry if you visited her blog or knew her, or of someone you know who died too young and was a sweet person. It never hurts to remember the good ones.

Turkey Meatballs with Citrus Plum Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. unsalted butter, divided
1 yellow onion, finely chopped, divided
1 small celery stalk, finely chopped
1 lb. ground turkey
1 cup rolled oats, whirled in a blender or food processor until lightly ground
1 egg
2 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup fresh citrus juice (I used a combination of orange and lime)
1 cup fresh diced plums, peels left on


Directions:
Make the meatballs

Preheat an oven to 425°F. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet.

In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and sauté two minutes. Set aside 1-2 tablespoons of the onions. Add the celery to the pan and continue to sauté’ until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon into a bowl and let cool. Set the pan aside.

Add the turkey, oats (I actually used Quaker Multi Grain Hot Cereal, mix of rye, barley, oat and wheat whole grains), egg, oregano, salt and pepper to the cooled onion mixture, and mix gently but thoroughly with your hands. Shape the mixture into 12 meatballs and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.

Cook the meatballs and make the sauce.

Bake the meatballs until opaque throughout, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the fry pan and combine the citrus juices, and plums in the fry pan and place over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until the juice comes to a boil and the fruit is warmed through, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the reserved onions to the sauce, taste for seasonings, add salt and/or pepper as needed.

Divide the meatballs among dinner plates, spoon the plum sauce over them and serve immediately. Serves 3- 4.

Forbidden

There is a sense of mystery about something forbidden...and a challenge, too. I felt that way upon discovering black forbidden rice, a gorgeous black rice with a nutty flavor similar to wild rice. The mystery is how to use this lovely grain to best advantage...and that was the challenge, too.

A salad or room temperature dish seemed like a good idea so I trolled the Internet and found something close to what I wanted with a Black Forbidden Rice with Sugar Snap Peas and Nectarine dish by Giada De Laurentiis. It can be served warm or at room temperature, it has a slightly Asian feeling with fresh ginger and soy sauce and the combination of fruits and vegetables is interesting, too. As usual I had some ideas on how to change the recipe to make it my own.

My version keeps the ginger and the soy sauce, but I add a strong orange note with both orange zest and juice in the dressing. I find that citrus adds a sparkle to both rice and bean dishes. I was out of nectarines, but had just purchased fresh red cherries so I used them.

Cherries and oranges are also a great combination. For a bit of crunch I added celery and some green onions for their fresh green taste.

I had thought that such a good dose of fresh ginger would leave a strong ginger taste in the rice but during the cooking process the ginger is muted and the flavor of the rice shines with just a hint of ginger in the background. I didn't use any hot sauce or other additional heat but after tasting this rice dish I think that you could add a little fresh minced ginger to the dressing or a dash of cayenne if you like your food a bit spicier than I do and it would be a great addition.

By the time I served this dish, the rice was lukewarm. The warm cherry mixture was perfect with the slightly cooler rice and the dressing added just the right mixture of salty and sweet. Sweetie took two helping, so I suspect that this will be a hit with your family, too. If you wish to dress this beautiful rice dish up, you could sprinkle some toasted sliced almonds over it when you are ready to serve it.
Black Forbidden Rice with Cherries

based on a recipe of Giada De Laurentiis'

Serves 4-6

Rice:
3 1/2 cups water
2 cups black forbidden rice
1 (1 1/2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 green onion, sliced, white part only
6 oz fresh cherries, pitted and halved

Dressing:
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Directions:
For the rice: In a medium saucepan, bring the water, rice, ginger, and salt to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pan, and cook until the rice is tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and place in a large serving bowl.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the celery and green onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Add the cherry halves and sauté for 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the serving bowl with the cooked rice.

For the dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, oil, honey, orange juice, soy sauce and orange zest until smooth.

Pour the dressing over the rice and cherry mixture and toss gently to combine. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Bread Baking Babes Bootcamp

Being invited to be a Bread Baking Babe is awesome! I have long admired the women in this group and their passion for bread, friendship and hilarity. Besides, I finally get to be a Babe! How could I say ‘no’ to the invitation?

Turns out that the first bread of my babehood is a kind of boot camp bread. No flour, only a little yeast, some salt and honey…and that’s it! Well, that and the cute little hard wheat berries. Sprouting them and then making a dough with the sprouted wheat, the water, yeast, salt and honey was the challenge and it was an act of faith most of the way. Guess newbies need a good challenge to toughen them up.

Sarge Lynn of Cookie Baker Lynn (if you know Lynn you may be laughing now...not really Sarge material) was the hostess this month and I’m actually glad that she chose this bread from Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book. One of the best things about this group…now my group, too!.. is that we push the envelope, try new flours, pans, techniques and kinds of bread…never boring.

Soaking the berries was easy and I had too much success with the sprouting. Thursday morning they had nice little tails, although perhaps a shade too long. By the time I got home from work they were really hairy little devils. By the time they had sat in the fridge overnight the berries were swollen and they were really sprouted! Unfortunately that sometimes means they are past the point where they will make decent bread.

The next incomprehensible thing was that these sprouted beauties were going to turn into a nice ball of dough if I whirled them the right way in a food-processor…not too long, just long enough. Not sure if I even came close, but I ended up with a ‘dough’ that seemed liked cold cooked cracked wheat. No gluten strands that I could see, but what the hay, into the rising bucket with this mass!

A couple of hours later it had, indeed, risen about a half inch and gave the sigh when poked, so I turned it out onto a floured board, flattened it, rounded it off and let it rise again.

Fingers crossed! Where is that glass of wine? Who cares if it’s only 11 am?

Well, it rose about an inch in two plus hours, so I decided to knead it and shape it into a loaf. Since it was so wet, I used my bench scraper to knead with at first. Eventually it seemed more like a dough and I was able to knead it with my damp hands, but it never seemed to have very much in the way of gluten. Shaped it into a loaf and plopped it into the bread pan.

Now we get to see if it actually rises more than an inch.

Left it to rise in the pan and it did rise from about an inch and a half below the pan edge to just over the pan edge. Into the preheated oven with this puppy!

Sigh, no oven spring at all. Even with interior registering 205 degrees F, the center …actually most of the loaf!...was wet and gummy, even when the edges of the crust were starting to burn.

Cooled it down completely, then sliced some. More like cooked cereal with a thin crust than bread Babes

Sweetie loved it warmed with butter, but I fed most of my slice to the dog.

Due to paid work and unpaid work (the remodel ) I didn’t really have time to try this again, but I will. The flavor was great and I love the idea and I know some of the Babes had success, so it can be (and will be) done. This is a sad Babe, but determined, too. Do check out the other Babes and see how this bread should look. The links are on the sidebar.

If you'd like to be a Buddy...and I do encourge you to show me up and make a great version of this bread as some of the Babes have...go to Cookie Baker Lynn's blog for the details. The recipe is below.

Still in Babe Boot Camp I guess. Off to sip some wine and contemplate the next challenge.



Lynn wrote:"We are the mighty Babes. In the kitchen, we are invincible. We can bake without gluten, we can bake without yeast. Can we bake without flour? Yes!

In July we're going to tackle making bread straight from the grain. Sprouted Wheat Bread. It makes me feel a bit like a hippie, but I'm excited to try it. This recipe is from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. I've included directions for using a food processor. If you need different directions, let me know.

Yeasted Sprouted Wheat Bread
- from Laurel’s Kitchen bread book

makes 1 loaf

3 cups hard spring wheat berries (1-1/4 lb or 575 g), about 6 cups sprouted
1 tsp active dry yeast (1/8 oz or 3.5 g)
2 Tbsp warm water (30 ml)
2 tsp salt (11 g)
3 scant Tbsp honey (40 ml)

To sprout the wheat:

Rinse the grain and cover with tepid water, letting it stand 12 to 18 hours at room temperature. Allow the longer period in cooler weather, the shorter period in warm.

Drain off the liquid, rinse the grain with fresh, tepid water, and store in a dark place with a damp cloth over the top of the container. Rinse at least every 12 hours, just until the tiny sprout is barely beginning to show and the grain itself is tender - about 48 hours, then refrigerate until they are cool, overnight or longer, but not more than a day or two.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

Put the regular cutting blade into a standard-size food processor and measure just over 2 cups of the sprouted wheat, a third of the total, into the bowl. Pour about 2 tsp of the dissolved yeast liquid, a scant Tbsp of honey, and about 2/3 tsp of salt over the wheat in the bowl. To protect the yeast, use separate measuring spoons for each of the ingredients.

Process until the ground wheat forms a ball, about one minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and process about two more minutes. Stop processing before the ball completely falls apart; if your wheat is not exceptionally high in protein a minute and a half might be all it can handle. If it falls apart, check the time, and with the next two batches, stop a little sooner.

Repeat with the remaining two-thirds of the ingredients, in two batches. Knead the three dough balls together.

Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in a warm draft-free place. After about an hour and a half, gently poke the center of the dough about 1/2 inch deep with your wet finger. If the hole doesn’t fill in at all or if the dough sighs, it is ready for the next step.

Press flat, form into a smooth round, and let the dough rise once more as before. If the dough is cold, the first rise will be fairly slow, but as the dough warms up, the rising will telescope.

Gently knead into a round. Use water on your hands to prevent sticking, and keep the ball as smooth as possible. Let it rest until it regains its suppleness while you grease a standard 8 x 4-inch loaf pan, pie tin, or a cookie sheet.
Deflate the dough and shape into a loaf. Place the dough into the greased loaf pan and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until the dough slowly returns a gently made fingerprint. Bake about an hour at 350 deg. F, though if your bread rises very high, it will take less than that.

CookieBakerLynn"

So the things that seem to be important are to only sprout the berries until they just begin to show white nubs at the tips, be sure to process long enough for gluten strands to form, try baking the bread at a lower temperature and/or remove the loaf from the pan about 10 minutes before it should be done, place it on a baking stone and keep baking! I wish you a hearty, delicious loaf and a good Buddy experience!

XO Elle

Perhaps the Best Yet...Irish Apricot and Walnut Sourdough Braid

What do you do that makes you happy? This is a question that comes up early on in a book I just read. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. It is set in a cooking school and has wonderful characters and a lyrical use of language. It’s a fairly short book but, at least for me, had quite a few places that got me thinking about myself and my own life, even though the lives of most of the characters were quite different from mine.

What do you do that makes you happy? As a small child it was making pretend cakes in the sandbox and decorating them with leaves, twigs and flowers. At the beach my sand castles would be decorated, too, with shells and bark and perhaps a scrap paper flag on a coffee stirrer if I found those on the beach. I guess I like being creative and making things and embellishing them.

When I was older I loved to make my own paperdoll clothes and to bake cookies, and, later, real cakes with Hershey cocoa icing. More creativity, but more useful than sand.

When I was at school one of the things that made me happy was a day trip with a canoe on top of the car and friends to be with who also liked to travel down swollen creeks in the spring and lazy rivers in the summer, aiming our canoes through the rapids for a brief funhouse ride. Maybe I have a wild side!

Being in the kitchen when I can be creative almost always makes me happy. Sharing the results with Sweetie and others who love good food makes me happiest of all. The creation of food, raw, cooked, baked, and grilled, brings out the artist in me and there is something truly magical about creating food items specifically for those you love…some of your love seems to seep into the food as you prepare it…and they feel that when they eat it.

Drawing together to share food, a process as ancient as any, is an elemental and satisfying way to connect with those we love. If the TV is off it is an opportunity for conversation, sharing of daily trials and accomplishments, subtle instruction…and not so subtle sometimes…of the youngsters, appreciation for our blessings and, sometimes, a bit of flirting, too. If you can, try to sit down to eat with your loved one(s) at least once a day with no distractions other than the food. It is one secret to keeping the love and connections alive…and it just might be something you do to make yourself happy.

When I was in high school I was lucky enough to take a sculpture class taught at a nationally renowned museum in Washington DC. We worked with clay and I found the medium to be absolutely wonderful! Clay lets you be godlike, molding and pushing it around to suit yourself.

Recently Sweetie asked me why I don’t work in clay now since I liked it so much. My answer was “Now I have bread dough.” Bread dough is even more fun because it is alive with yeast. That means that you have to cooperate with the dough more than you do with clay…clay is much more submissive…but when you are done you can eat the bread and make another ‘sculpture’ another time!

This braid is truly a delectable bread sculpture...fun to make and fun to eat. As long as you remember that walnuts can give the dough a red tone you can enjoy the flavor they add. Chopped dried apricots give nuggets of intense apricot flavor here and there as you eat the slices.

Sweetie thinks that this might be the best bread yet. Not sure about that but I know it makes the best toast!

The recipe is from a book I bought last spring in Ireland and then somehow left in with the travel books. When it came to light this week I was thrilled to find that it had this bread because I'd been wanting to make a bread with apricots in it. The cook book is called Soups and Breads - The Irish Kitchen by Nuala Cullen. There are wonderful soup recipes in the front and lots of bread recipes in the back. Here and there are charming line drawings, but no photos.

This was written as a recipe for a boule, but I felt like playing with dough and making a braid. Since I used my sourdough starter instead of dried active yeast, the liquid measurements were wrong at first, so I added extra milk...but didn't measure. Add additional milk/water and flour as needed to get a firm dough that is smooth and only barely tacky. Allow plenty of time for rising if you use starter.If you braid the strands loosely you can get a really pretty braid once it rises.

With packaged yeast the first rise should be about an hour and the second, after braiding, about a half hour. Do make this with active dry yeast if you don't have starter...it is really good and worth your time. I'm sending it over to Susan of Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting event.

Irish Apricot and Walnut Bread
Makes one loaf

75 g/3 oz/2/3 cup finely chopped dried apricots
75 g/3 oz/3/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts
450 g/1 lb/4 cups strong white flour
75 g/3 oz/3/4 cup coarse brown flour (I used whole wheat)
1 tablespoon or one sachet instant dried yeast (I used 1 cup sourdough starter and adjusted the milk/water)
325 ml/12 fl oz/1 ½ cups mixed milk and water
1 tablespoon olive oil (I forgot to put this in, but it turned out fine)
1 teaspoon salt

If using dry yeast: In a large mixing bowl mix together the flours, apricots, nuts, salt and dried yeast.

Make a well in the center and pour in the milk and water, kneading and drawing in the flour from the sides until it is all incorporated. Knead for 2 minutes with a dough hook or 5-6 minutes by hand on a floured surface. Oil the mixing bowl, put in the dough, cover with plastic wrap/clingfilm and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

If using sourdough starter: In large mixing bowl (I used stand mixer bowl) put the sourdough starter and 1 ¼ cups mixed milk and water, slightly warmed. Stir or whisk to combine.

In another large bowl combine the flours, apricots, and walnuts. With dough hook in place and mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry mixture until the dough is soft and cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead with the machine for 3-4 minutes. If you prefer you can combine the wet and dry ingredients as described in the first paragraph and hand knead. With sourdough starter you might need to have a longer rising time...I did.

Knock the air out of the dough and knead briefly before turning out onto a floured surface. Shape as desired. I did a three strand braid. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Again, this usually takes longer when you are only using sourdough starter, but the additional flavor that develops is well worth the wait. I also refrigerated my dough overnight before the first rise...even more flavor that way!

Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and tap underneath. If a hollow sound results, the bread is cooked. If not, bake a little longer and test again. You could also shape the dough in two loaves and bake this in two 8 x 4 loaf pans.

Do try some of this toasted...it is sublime.

Bread

My Inner Elf has popped up, just in time for holiday baking and crafts, so posts are being put on hold while flour flies in the kitchen.

Last Wednesday I made the third of three related loaves of tasty, whole grain yeasted bread to send with family who were returning to River City and them to the East Coast. The first loaf had been made the previous Tuesday and the second loaf a day or two later, but family visiting always trumps blogging so no posts were made until today.

Head on over to Bread Baker's Dog to get the full scoop and the recipes. The braided versions can make nice holiday gifts and/or grace your holiday table.

The URL is breadbakersdog.blogspot.com

Zucchini Muesli Bread

In my twenties it seemed like zucchini bread showed up at every bake sale or pot luck during the summer. Usually they were moist and sweet, very spiced and heavy quick breads.

Recently at the Bread Baker's Dog, I posted a yeasted zucchini bread that was savory instead of sweet, rich with the Mediterranean flavors of Parmesan cheese, pine nuts and basil.


The zucchini keeps on coming, even from the lazy woman's planting that I made in desperation the day before my vacation.

I still had zucchini and cucumber seedlings and not enough time to plant them 'properly', so I took a 2 cubic foot bag of potting soil, laid it flat...well it sloped downhill a bit, but that is OK for drainage...and cut holes in the plastic bag. Into each hole I put a seedling. Since there was some fertilizer in the potting soil mix, I figured that with regular watering the plants would make it for three weeks and then I could transplant them to pots. Imagine my delight to find that they were quite happy in their bag.

The zucchini I used today for this bread was from that group of plants and it was fully a foot long and shredded into more than the required two cups! I've also started harvesting lemon cucumbers from the bag plantings. It is something that you might want to try, especially if you don't have a place to garden, but have a sunny spot to place a bag of soil. The important thing is to make sure to water it regularly and not let the soil dry out.

Today I wanted to make the quick bread version, so I started looking through my cookbooks. I found that more recently published books didn't have a sweet quick bread version. When I looked in older cookbooks I found out why. The traditional recipe apparently used a full cup of oil for each two cups of zucchini...that's a lot of oil.

Lately I've been thinking about making a muesli bread, too. Muesli is a combination of whole grain flakes, nuts and dried fruits. We ate a lot of it while in Ireland. It was available each morning as part of the full Irish breakfast. We haven't found a ready made variety here that is as good as what we had in Ireland, but I'm thinking of making my own. My favorite store-bought, the kind from Bob's Red Mill, has red wheat, rye, barley and oat flakes and some almonds and date clusters.

It occurred to me that I could combine zucchini and home made muesli in a quick bread, use less oil, and see what happened. As it turned out, trying to figure out the proportions from scratch takes a lot of time.

I kept the two cups of shredded zucchini and used a clean flour sack towel to squeeze out the excess liquid.

Then I took some of a combination of whole grain flakes that I found at a local store and added some buttermilk and regular milk (because I ran out of buttermilk) and let that combination sit for half an hour while I figured out the rest. That allowed the grains to soften a bit as they absorbed some of the liquids.

For the rest of the muesli, I took a handful of whole natural almonds and chopped them roughly, added some golden raisins (because I love them), some dried cranberries (for color and sweetness), some chopped dates (contrast and more sweetness) and some extra old-fashioned oats for some texture.

The most difficult part was to figure out how much flour would be needed. I started with 1 1/2 cups which was mixed with the leaveners and salt and cinnamon, but added another 1/2 cup before adding the almond-date-oats-raisin-cranberry mixture. Still, it was a successful experiment...the bread is delicious, moist, with lots of flavor and texture from the zucchini and muesli additions, plus a hint of cinnamon.

Now that I have the recipe figured out, I suspect I'll be making a lot of this bread over the summer.

Zucchini Muesli Bread

½ cup mixed-grain flakes (mine has red wheat, barley, rye and oat flakes)
1/3 cup buttermilk
½ cup milk
2 large egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used safflower)
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cup shredded zucchini, extra moisture squeezed out
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup natural almonds, chopped
½ cup pitted dates, chopped
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup golden raisins

In a small bowl, combine the multi-grain flakes (rolled whole grains) and the buttermilk and milk. Let sit for at least ½ hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch bread pan.

In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, vegetable oil, brown sugar and vanilla. Let sit 10 minutes.

Add the zucchini and the mixed-grain and milk mixture and mix to combine.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a bowl or onto a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

On a sheet of waxed paper, combine the rolled oats, chopped almonds, chopped dates, dried cranberries and golden raisins. Set aside.

On low speed, or with just enough strokes to mix, combine the flour mixture with the zucchini mixture. Once just combined, add the almond-raisin-cranberry-date-oat mixture and stir just until blended.

Pour batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and place in the preheat oven. Bake approximately an hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, and then run a knife around the edges to loosen the loaf and turn out of the pan to cool completely.

Best cut when fully cooled. Makes one loaf.