Strawberry Lavender Bread

What does a little piece of heaven taste like in your mouth? Eat a piece of this bread and find out. A friend of mine occasionally gets a mass amount of organic produce due to his connections (no, it didn't fall off the back end of a truck... well not in the way you think!). He knows what chef I am, so I am fortunate enough to get a little piece of the action when fate roles my way. A few weeks ago it happened to be organic strawberries! And tons of them.

After some research (always key), I found a strawberry bread recipe from the Joy of Baking to start with. Then applied my special Panda touch - in this case, lavender! The results were amazing. Truly, insanely amazing. As I ended up making two batches, I tweaked the second one by using low-fat coconut milk. While it was tasty, I still preferred the first batch better. 

Enjoy! 

Strawberry Bread Recipe:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

1-2 tablespoons lavender flowers, lightly crushed to enhance aroma

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the middle position. Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) the bottom and sides of an 8-cup loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3 inch).  Set aside. 

Place the walnuts (or pecans) on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes or until brown and fragrant. Remove from oven and let cool completely before chopping coarsely. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Next, gently mix in the lavender. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and yogurt (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined. Gently fold in the chopped strawberries and walnuts.  

 

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle with a pinch of lavender, and bake about one hour, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. This bread can be frozen, although mine went too fast to even think about it!

Makes 1 big loaf