Quick breads are easy to make and are lovely for tea or coffeebreaks. Today’s quick bread combines strawberry and rhubarb with some flavorful spices (nutmeg and cardamom) to make a delightful treat. While this Strawberry Rhubarb Quick Bread can certainly be made with frozen strawberries and rhubarb since they are cooked into a sauce before being added to the bread batter, it is an extra-special treat to make when both are in season locally.
I find that including chopped rhubarb or strawberries into a loaf can often result in wet/soggy spots throughout the bread. In this loaf, I created the recipe to use a cooked sauce made with the strawberries, rhubarb, and a bit of orange juice. Simply cook them together just until the rhubarb pieces are fork tender. There is no need to cook the sauce until mushy or purée it. A bit chunky is just fine. The cooking and mixer will break up the fruit so that it can be used as the main moisture ingredient in the bread and will be distributed throughout the loaf as part of the batter. This eliminates the “wet spots” traditionally found in breads where whole or chopped rhubarb and/or strawberries are used yet it still gives a lovely strawberry rhubarb flavor. Be sure to allow the sauce to cool completely before making the bread.
This moist and flavorful quick bread is easy to make. Once the strawberry rhubarb sauce is cooked, it’s simply a matter of combining all the dry ingredients in one bowl and mixing all the wet ingredients in another then pouring the wet ingredients into the dry and mixing them just until they are barely combined. The bread bakes for approximately 55-60 minutes.
Strawberry Rhubarb Quick Bread
Ingredients:
For the Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce:
4½ oz mashed strawberries
4½ oz rhubarb, cut into ½“ pieces (4½ oz weighed after leaves and root ends of stalks removed)
2 tbsp orange juice
For the Quick Bread:
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup almond flour
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp nutmeg
1/4 – ½ tsp cardamom
1/3 cup quick cooking rolled oats
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
Cooled Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce (recipe above)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp sour cream or Greek yogurt
2 tsp finely grated orange rind
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cup chopped nuts of choice (e.g., pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds) (optional)
Method:
In small saucepan, cook the strawberries and rhubarb with the orange juice over medium low heat just until rhubarb is fork tender, about 6-8 minutes. Mixture should still be a bit chunky, not mushy. Cool completely before proceeding to make bread.
Position oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9”x5”x3” loaf pan with strips of parchment paper (one strip horizontally across the pan and one strip vertically down the length of the pan), leaving enough paper overhang with which to grasp and lift the loaf to remove it from the pan. Spritz parchment-lined pan very lightly with cooking oil.
In a large bowl, sieve the flours, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices together. Stir in the rolled oats. Make a well in the center of the ingredients. Set the dry ingredients aside.
In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk the eggs at medium speed until frothy. Beat in the sugars until well blended. Reduce speed to medium-low and add the cooled strawberry rhubarb sauce, vegetable oil, sour cream or Greek yogurt, grated orange rind, and vanilla. Beat just until ingredients are combined.
Remove bowl from mixer stand and pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients. Stir just until all the dry ingredients are barely incorporated but no dry ingredients remaining visible. Do not overmix as it will result in a tough bread. Stir in the chopped nuts, if using.
Spoon batter into prepared pan and, using a knife, smooth the top of the loaf. Bake for approximately 55-60 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. Let loaf rest in pan for 10 minutes after removing from oven then transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting.
Yield: One loaf, apx. 12-14 slices (sliced approximately ½” thick)
Note: Bread is best made the day before it is needed. Let cool completely on wire rack then place in airtight plastic bag and store in refrigerator overnight. Loaf freezes well either wholly or in slices.
As with all my recipes, unless specifically stated otherwise in the recipe itself or accompanying blog post, I recommend no substitutions of any ingredients or amounts, method, or pan size for any of the foregoing specified in this tested recipe.
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You may also enjoy these other quick bread recipes from My Island Bistro Kitchen:
Cinnamon Quick Bread
Cherry Loaf
Green Tomato Quick Bread
Classic Banana Bread
Glazed Lemon Pecan Bread
Cranberry Orange Eggnog Loaf
Blueberry Quick Bread
Irish Soda Bread
Strawberry Rhubarb Quick Bread
Ingredients
For the Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce:
- 4½ oz mashed strawberries
- 4½ oz rhubarb, cut into ½“ pieces (4½ oz weighed after leaves and root ends of stalks removed)
- 2 tbsp orange juice
For the Quick Bread:
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 – ½ tsp cardamom
- 1/3 cup quick cooking rolled oats
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- Cooled Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce (recipe above)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp finely grated orange rind
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup chopped nuts of choice (e.g., pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds) (optional)
Instructions
- In small saucepan, cook the strawberries and rhubarb with the orange juice over medium low heat just until rhubarb is fork tender, about 6-8 minutes. Mixture should still be a bit chunky, not mushy. Cool completely before proceeding to make bread.
Position oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9”x5”x3” loaf pan with strips of parchment paper (one strip horizontally across the pan and one strip vertically down the length of the pan), leaving enough paper overhang with which to grasp and lift the loaf to remove it from the pan. Spritz parchment-lined pan very lightly with cooking oil.
- In a large bowl, sieve the flours, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices together. Stir in the rolled oats. Make a well in the center of the ingredients. Set the dry ingredients aside.
- In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk the eggs at medium speed until frothy. Beat in the sugars until well blended. Reduce speed to medium-low and add the cooled strawberry rhubarb sauce, vegetable oil, sour cream or Greek yogurt, grated orange rind, and vanilla. Beat just until ingredients are combined.
- Remove bowl from mixer stand and pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients. Stir just until all the dry ingredients are barely incorporated but no dry ingredients remaining visible. Do not overmix as it will result in a tough bread. Stir in the chopped nuts, if using.
- Spoon batter into prepared pan and, using a knife, smooth the top of the loaf. Bake for approximately 55-60 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. Let loaf rest in pan for 10 minutes after removing from oven then transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting.
Recipe Notes
Yield: One loaf, apx. 12-14 slices (sliced approximately ½” thick)
Note: Bread is best made the day before it is needed. Let cool completely on wire rack then place in airtight plastic bag and store in refrigerator overnight. Loaf freezes well either wholly or in slices.
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