Blueberries!

I love fresh blueberries! Ever since I was a kid, my mom used to make blueberry muffins with fresh blueberries.. and I've been hooked ever since. I found this recipe from The Kitchn, and modified it slightly.

Blueberry Oat Bread

Materials:
2 large handfuls of fresh blueberries, washed and dried
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats -- this is the only kind you can use for the texture
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup 2% milk (they used buttermilk, but this is one ingredient I forgot.. but it worked this way too)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 325°. Grease one loaf pan.

Toss the berries with 1/4 cup of flour -- this will keep the berries from sinking in the batter.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. In separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir gently until you see no more dry flour. Fold the blueberries into the batter.

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and bake for about 60 minutes, rotating the pan partway through. The loaf is done when the top is puffed and dry, and when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding. Allow it to cool completely before slicing.

This recipe is super easy, and tastes delicious! It's even better in the morning with some peanut butter on it!

Experiment: Beer Bread with Wheat Flour

From the CSA (community shared agriculture) I was in last fall, I received some fresh wheat flour from the farm. It looked great.. and I got 2 pounds. Pretty stoked. I haven't gotten to use it much since wheat flour is said to have much more gluten in it (higher protein = more gluten output), which results in a denser baked good. I decided to test it out with a little beer bread -- the easiest of the breads as far as I'm concerned.

The recipe came from here, and is as simple as can be:
3 cups flour (I used wheat, but they suggest all-purpose)
1TBSP of sugar
1 tsp of salt
1TBSP baking powder
12oz of beer --> 1 reg can.. but if you buy a tall boy, you'll have some left to drink ;)

Mix the dry ingredients together -- then add the beer. Mix until smooth(ish), then pour in and bake at 350 for about 35-45 min (My oven runs hot, so I tend to cook for a shorter time).

The wheat bread made a delicious, yet flat (as you can see) bread. It was a tad crumbly, but add butter on top, and it's great. Def dense, but b/c it was so easy, what do I care?

Next time, I'll prob use all-purpose.. and add some mix-ins. Choc chips? Herbs? I'll go wild.