Apple Pie Bread

Here's another recipe Yonetta has pinned. Apple pie bread sounds like something good for breakfast or dessert.

No buttermilk on hand, I opted to sour some milk, an option offered as a tip in the source. Rather than bother with finding an apple pie spice recipe, or worse, buying some, I simply substituted with cinnamon. For me that's about as apple pie as you can get.

Not only did I yield a loaf of bread, but I learned something, well, two things, along the way. One, I tend not to learn from the things I've read, and two, baking temperature when using metal and glass does make a difference. I used glass this time as always and tried the lower temperature with astounding results.

Apple Pie Bread
adapted from Mommy's Kitchen
click to print

BREAD
3/4 tsp distilled white vinegar
1/3 c (scant) milk
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c all purpose flour, divided
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 c peeled apples, diced
3/4 c walnuts, chopped

STREUSEL-NUT TOPPING
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/3 c walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Dilute vinegar with milk to yield 1/3 cup. Let stand at least five minutes or until ready to use.


Cream the butter in a large bowl.


Beat in the granulated and brown sugars until combined.


Add the soured milk and baking powder; beat until combined.

The soured milk after beating into the creamed sugars looks exactly like it should had buttermilk been used.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined.


Add 2 cups flour, cinnamon and salt; beat until combined.


Toss the apples and nuts in remaining flour.


Stir apples and nuts into batter.


Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x5x3 inch loaf dish. Spoon batter into prepared dish and spread evenly.


Prepare the streusel topping by combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour in a small bowl; cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.

If the butter is hard, you'll want to use a pastry blender. If the butter is really soft, a fork works just fine.

Stir in walnuts and sprinkle over the batter.

You'll have to trust I stirred the nuts in.

Bake for 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.


Cool bread in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.


Wrap and store overnight before slicing if you can stand to wait.



This bread is so freakishly similar to apple pie in flavor it's almost weird. The topping is nice and crumbly crunchy while the bread itself is incredibly moist. Absolute flavor explosion in a sliceable package, a total winner.

And now I'm a believer that the baking temperature when using a glass dish should be 25°F lower than when baking in a metal pan. My whole life I've been using too high a temperature and didn't even know. I honestly thought the dark, tough "crust" was normal. This bread turned out marvelously; no part of it was too dark and the texture of the crust was excellent. Picture me kicking myself for not having tried that little experiment before. Going forward I will always keep this in mind.

Cost:

• milk: $0.17
• butter: $0.60
• sugar: $0.11
• brown sugar: $0.39
• eggs: $0.70
• vanilla extract: $0.08
• all purpose flour: $0.30
• apples: $1.03
• walnuts: $1.45

Total: $4.83 or about $5 (to include spices). That makes each of 12 slices about $0.42.

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