Mom's Orange Quickbread

Earlier I suggested that the summer here has been, shall we say, a bit too warm for my liking. How young and foolish I was back then, to think that what I was experiencing back then was heat. At least then the humidity wasn't overwhelmingly oppressive. At least back then it was still getting cool enough at night to sleep. Well, no such luck this week. The upshot of that heat is that it is just too uncomfortable to spend any length of time either in the kitchen (especially with the oven on.) or in front of the computer. So, I hope you'll forgive this blazingly quick entry (this week's bread, as I learned, has its name for a reason). Hopefully next week things will be cool enough for me to actually bake something.

So, this week marks both my first batter-bread, and also the first time I've made a bread with baking powder instead of yeast (cooking with chemistry, as I like to think about it, instead of cooking with biology). Anyway, to get started, combine 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 3/4 of a cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 of a teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 of a teaspoon of baking soda. Stir that all together, and then use a cheese shredder to add the grated peel of one orange. Pour in to the dry ingredients 2/3 of a cup of orange juice, 1/3 of a cup of milk, and 1/2 of cup of canola oil, along with 1 lightly beaten egg. Mix the batter together (but be careful, as Mom would say, of stirring more than 75 times!), and then pour it into a greased 9x5 bread tin.

Set the oven for 350 degrees, and when it is at the proper temperature, put the bread in the oven. After about 7 minutes, recall the last step of the recipe, and sprinkle the top of the forming bread with a healthy dose of cinnamon and sugar. Then put back in the oven for another 53 minutes.

Take out of the oven, wait a minimum of time before slicing, spreading with butter, and enjoying.
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Tasting verdict: Delicious! Although the loaf didn't quite look like I remember from home, I'm very very pleased with how this came out. Easy to make, sweet, slightly delicate, and super-tasty. What's not to like?

Currently reading: Well, I just finished East of Eden (a very good read!). Right now David Copperfield is sitting on my desk, but I haven't yet had the urge to pick it up.

Current fervent wish that's unlikely to come true: A giant snowstorm. Tomorrow. That would be awesome.