Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives

Chocolate Chunk Strawberry Malted Loaf for Twelve Loaves

Remember when I announced that there was a new bread baking challenge in town called The Bread Baking Society and I participated in the focaccia theme last May?  Well that new bread baking challenge is now a NEWER bread baking challenge.  My friend Lora, of Cake Duchess, the brainchild behind The Bread Baking Society, has decided to give The Bread Baking Society a small makeover and has invited me, her Mom, Lizzy of food and thrift,  Barbara of Creative Culinary, and Jamie of Life’s a Feast along for the ride.  Say hello to Twelve Loaves, and below is what it’s all about and the rules – beautifully written by Jamie and beautifully copied and pasted by me!

Twelve Loaves was created to inspire you to bake more from scratch at home, in your kitchen. Bake along with us every month and discover and rediscover the joys of home baking for your family and friends. We know it’s not an easy task and we are here to inspire you along the way. A Baking Revolution!

What unites Twelve Loaves and all of you? We love baking from scratch because people love eating real bread, real cakes, delectable treats right out of the oven. Together we will discover new recipes and learn and master new techniques, discover flavors, textures, new ways to experience bread at the table with family and friends. 12 months, 12 baked goods, 12 challenges… so get baking!

Our very first Twelve Loaves theme for the month of August is Bread with Summer Fruit.  Bake a bread, yeast or quick bread,  loaf or individual, filled, stuffed, studded or topped with your favorite fresh summer fruit or berries.

Just follow the rules, it’s as easy as pie:

1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your post and mention and link back to Lora, Lisa and Jamie’s blogs. Please make sure that your Bread is inspired by the theme! This is obligatory if you would like your link to be included!

2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of Lora, Lisa or Jamie’s blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.

3. Feel free to promote the Twelve Loaves by proudly displaying the Twelve Loaves badge in your Twelve Loaves post as well as in your sidebar! It isn’t mandatory but is a nice way to get the word out!

4. Have your Twelve Loaves bread post up any time in August..the deadline is August 31, 2012.

Chat with our hostesses : Jamie @lifesafeast Lisa (me)  @parsleynsage Lora @cakeduchess Barbara @CreativCulinary

Now, Get Baking!

With that said..I’m the hostess with the leastest.  Jamie made a gorgeous chocolate  chip cherry maple challah, Lizzy made a stunning, limoncello glazed blueberry – peach bread , Barbara made a luscious cherry bread with  a crunchy cinnamon almond topping, and Lora made a beautiful blueberry cream cheese braid.  I made a quick bread..because it was well..quick and I wanted to bake with them, not just put up an announcement.  However..this quick bread is kind of special.  The title says it all…malted, as in malted milk powder is added to the batter.  There are malted layer cakes, malted milkshakes, malted milk balls, and I even saw some malted pancakes and waffles on the internet a few months ago, so..why not malted quick bread?

I LOVE most anything that has malted milk powder in it.  One summer, years ago..there was a Dairy Queen about 15 minutes from where I lived at the time.  Every time I passed it..which was quite often, I pulled in and ordered either a strawberry or vanilla malted milkshake.   I still remember that first icy sip on those warm, summer nights…the malt hitting my palate like a dart to the center of a bullseye – making me giddy every.single.time.  Sadly, that Dairy Queen was soon knocked down, replaced by a drive-through bank. They wouldn’t let me withdraw a malted milkshake.

Soon I was knocking back boxes of malted milk balls to satiate my malted addiction.

Discovering malted milk powder in the supermarket was a happy day for me, and for the rest of that summer I was making my own vanilla malted milkshakes, albeit nowhere near as much as I bought them at the Dairy Queen.  They were not even close to the ones I used to get at Dairy Queen, (I can never get a milkshake or malt as thick and creamy as the ones you get at any ice cream establishment – no matter how much ice cream I add.  What’s the secret?) but the malted flavor still hit the spot.  Regardless..I think every artery in my heart is glad that DQ went away,..as well as my belly and butt.

Having said all that, the flavor the malted milk powder in this quick bread..along with chunks of fresh, summer strawberries and Valrhona chocolate, is out of this  world and reminiscent of a malted milkshake.  The thing is…how do you describe the flavor of malted?   I’ve pondered this over and over and I cannot find any adjectives that fit.  Can any of you?

I took a base recipe for quick bread from the Joy of Baking, made a few base changes to it..and then went to town on it.   I love how it turned out… a burst of fresh strawberry and creamy, melted chocolate throughout the super moist, malted vanilla loaf.  Strawberries may not bake up very pretty..as you can see in the photos, but who cares if it tastes good?  Initially I was going to use a variety of fruits, minus chocolate, in this bread…sticking with my ‘eat the rainbow’ theme this summer, but then decided it was overkill.  Plus, I couldn’t find a green fruit I felt would work well.  Cooked kiwi?  NO.  Kiwi loses a ton of flavor when cooked, unless made into a jam with loads of sugar. Green grapes?  Nah.

I do have one regret.  I wish I had topped the bread with lots of strawberry slices and chocolate chunks.  I sliced up one strawberry and placed it on top with a sprinkle of malted milk powder.  The batter rose over half the strawberry slices, leaving me with three slices playing peekaboo..instead of the original six, front and center.  So, if you do make this..I suggest a good amount of strawberry slices, chocolate chunks and malted milk powder on top.  Not only will it be prettier, but it’ll add more texture …and flavor, of course.

Finally..one last time..you have the whole month of August to link up your summer fruit bread..any kind of bread..no yeast required.   Just click on the linky below and follow the directions.  Don’t forget to tweet (if you use Twitter – not required) your fruity creation @TwelveLoaves with the hashtags #TwelveLoaves and #getbaking !

You can use any recipe you’d like..including any of ours! The sky is the limit..as long as your bread contains summer fruit.

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Chocolate Chunk Strawberry Malted Loaf
Adapted from Joy of Baking, with my revisions

1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
3/4 cup malted milk powder
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberry chunks ( I quarted each strawberry)
1 cup good quality semisweet,milk or bittersweet chocolate. cut into chunks (I prefer this over chocolate chips because it remains melted and gooey long after baking)
Extra flour for coating the chocolate and strawberries
extra strawberries and chocolate chunks to top the bread..which I wish I did!

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Stir the malted milk powder into the sour cream or yogurt and let dissolve while you prepare everything.

2.  Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until softened. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined before adding the next egg.  Beat in vanilla extract.

4. Alternately add the flour mixture with the sour cream or yogurt malted powder mixture…ending with the flour.

5.  Place the strawberry and chocolate chunks in a strainer over a bowl and coat them with flour..about 1/4 cup…shaking off the excess into the bowl beneath it.

6.  Fold the flour coated strawberries and chocolate into the batter gently, (the batter will be a little thick).

7.  Pour and scrape the batter into a lightly greased and floured 9 x 5 – inch loaf pan.  Top with extra strawberry chunks, chocolate chunks and a sprinkle of malted milk powder.

8.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 60 – 65 minutes, until the loaf is puffed, golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on rack fully before slicing.

9.  Keep any leftovers refrigerated, for about two days at most. although I doubt you’ll have any leftovers!

Bad Boy First Love Part 16 will be coming soon.  I couldn’t hit that zone..and when I don’t hit that zone..I don’t flow..and when I don’t flow..it sucks, which has happened in about half or more of the parts.