Commentary: Wow them without the hassle

There’s something about cold weather and the holidays that makes baking bread such a delight.

Or so I’m told. I’ve never actually baked a traditional loaf of yeast bread myself. No wheat, rye or flaxseed breads. No garlic bread. Not even any dinner rolls.

I love eating the stuff, but making it from scratch always seemed too intimidating. I just saw one online recipe, for example, that had step-by-step instructions — with “pictures and plenty of helpful tips” — for making a basic wheat bread. The article was like 10 pages long.

Are you kidding me? I’m a bachelor. I don’t separate whites from colors. What do I know about kneading, letting the dough rest or “activating” yeast?

Which is why, when the cold weather and holidays roll around, my inner breadmaker always thinks about dessert breads.


The three recipes below are all incredibly easy. There’s no kneading involved, not a speck of yeast and no worrying about an “improper rise,” whatever that is.

Just mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, the dry ingredients in another, combine them, add in some fruit or nuts and dump the batter into a loaf pan. Easy-peasy — not to mention delicious.


These recipes are all essentially quick bread versions of popular cakes. But that just means they’re healthier, right? I mean, one of them even has carrots in it. You can’t get much healthier than that.

And seriously, when Betty Crocker shows up at the party with a fresh-baked pumpernickel loaf and you stroll in with cheddar-apple bread, who’s your daddy? Dang tootin’.

Pumpkin-chocolate bread

Source: Evelyn Small, The Washington Post

In a 2006 article, Small said the bread freezes well and makes a wonderful gift. Her college-age kids said it “has the power to help them make new friends and keep the old.”

Makes enough for 2 to 3 loaves.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups of sugar
3 ½ cups of flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
One 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
2 beaten eggs
6 to 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
  
• In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, spices, salt and baking soda.
  
  
• In a medium bowl, combine the oil, water, pumpkin puree and beaten eggs.
  
  
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine thoroughly.
  
  
• Mix in the chocolate chips.
  
  
• Pour into loaf pans and bake 45-50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Carrot loaf

Source: Based on a cake recipe given to me by Lewiston Tribune reporter Kerri Sandaine, with a few modifications.

Makes 2 8-by-4-inch loaves

Ingredients
2 cups flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger, to taste
4 eggs
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
½ cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded carrots (about 4 large carrots)
8 ounces pineapple tidbits, w/o the juice (optional)
Raisins and chopped walnuts, to taste (optional)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
  
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
  
  
• In a large bowl, whisk eggs, then whisk in the oil.
  
  
• Add in the applesauce, vanilla and both sugars.
  
  
• Mix in the dry ingredients.
  
  
• Add in the carrots, along with any optional ingredients, and combine thoroughly.
  
  
• Pour into loaf pans and bake 40-55 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cheddar-apple bread

Source: Based on a Kraft Foods recipe, with a few modifications.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups flour
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 beaten eggs
¾ cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
½ cup applesauce
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups peeled/diced apples
¾ cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup raisins

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
  
• In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, milk, butter and applesauce.
  
  
• In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
  
  
• Stir in the wet ingredients and thoroughly combine.
  
  
• Mix in the cheese, then the apples.
  
  
• Stir in the walnuts and raisins.
  
  
• Pour into one or two loaf pans and bake 60-70 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Single-serving alternative: Pour the batter into small ramekins or individual baking dishes and bake for about 30 minutes, until done. Drizzle them with the optional butterscotch sauce, and even Betty Crocker will be coming back for seconds.

Optional butterscotch sauce

Ingredients

½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup butter, cubed
½ cup heavy cream

Directions

• Place butter and sugar in a pan.
  
  
• Heat until melted.
  
  
• Gradually add in the cream and bring to a slow boil for about 5 minutes.
  
  
• Let cool slightly before drizzling over bread.

Spence covered government and politics for the Lewiston Tribune for 14 years before retiring at the end of 2022. He occasionally thinks about baking a "real" loaf of bread, but then he reads the recipe and stops.