Orange Bread

The holiday baking has officially started in the Hylan-Cho household: I made Orange Bread this morning. I don't know if this recipe was designed to be a holiday treat, but it's something I always associate with Christmas because that's when my mom makes it.

chopping_dates.jpg orange_bread.jpg

Mom sent us some last year with a note on it that said "remember that this is a dry bread, so it needs butter", which puzzled me a bit. Although a piece of this bread tastes spectacular with some softened lightly salted butter pasted around at least three of its four sides, I've never had a batch come out dry. Quite the opposite, in fact. Maybe mom has modified her recipe over the years? In any case, this is the one I'm following, and it's wonderful.

Orange Bread

1 pkg. (8 oz.) pitted dates
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
2 c. orange juice
1 egg
1 T. olive oil
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. orange peel (from 2-3 oranges)

  1. Chop the dates, splitting lengthwise first and then crosswise. (If you just chop them crosswise, you'll have rings in which flour will get stuck.) Toss with the flour.
  2. With a sharp knife, cut the peel off the oranges and slice into thin strips. Try to get as little of the white pith as possible. (You can also use a lemon zester to generate ultra-thin peel strips, but it takes a little more effort and might take more oranges.)
  3. Sift together the powder, soda, sugar, and salt and add to the flour and date mixture.
  4. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, mix the orange juice, egg, oil, vanilla, and orange peel.
  5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently but thoroughly.
  6. Pour batter into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350° for about 45 minutes, or until the top is a rich honey brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Posted by Lori in food at 9:53 AM on December 16, 2005

Comments (4)

Thanks Lori,

Minus the dates, this bread sound yummy - i'll give it a try this weekend.

Cheers
Lori

Lori [TypeKey Profile Page]:

The dates are pretty key to the recipe, though the cake (it's more cake than bread, really) is nice on its own. If you can't substitute another fruit, like raisins, I would try baking in a smaller pan, perhaps 10x10 or 9x9.

evangeline:

hi Lori,
sorry, I didn't see a temp to bake this bread at. I'd totally love to give it a whirl since I bought pitted dates to make dingbats but forgot the rice krispies so I can't make that.
e

Lori [TypeKey Profile Page]:

Ack! I can't believe I forgot that info. It's 350°.

Comments

Thanks Lori,

Minus the dates, this bread sound yummy - i'll give it a try this weekend.

Cheers
Lori

Posted by: Lori Herrington at December 16, 2005 4:46 PM

The dates are pretty key to the recipe, though the cake (it's more cake than bread, really) is nice on its own. If you can't substitute another fruit, like raisins, I would try baking in a smaller pan, perhaps 10x10 or 9x9.

Posted by: Lori [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 16, 2005 10:05 PM

hi Lori,
sorry, I didn't see a temp to bake this bread at. I'd totally love to give it a whirl since I bought pitted dates to make dingbats but forgot the rice krispies so I can't make that.
e

Posted by: evangeline at December 22, 2005 9:15 PM

Ack! I can't believe I forgot that info. It's 350°.

Posted by: Lori [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 22, 2005 9:30 PM

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