Fresh Strawberry Bread

A recipe from Cooking with the Noonday Chef 3 by Walter Lambert. Chef Walter, as he is known on a local news program, featured this recipe on his cooking segment. Produces a moist, dense loaf. The preparation time does not include time for the strawberries to sit in the refrigerator.

• Ready In: 55 mins
• Serves: 8
• Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1  cup strawberry, sliced
• 2  tablespoons sugar
• 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1  cup sugar
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup  vegetable oil (or canola)
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2  eggs, beaten

Directions

1. In a bowl, place the sliced strawberries. Sprinkle the slices with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. This will create a nice syrup with the berries.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
3. Blend together the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil, vanilla, eggs, strawberry slices and its syrup. Dump the strawberry mixture into the flour mixture, and mix just until blended.
5. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan (9 inches x 5 inches) and bake for approximately 50 minutes.
6. HINTS: This bread is lovely with cream cheese. Egg substitute (like Egg Beaters) can be used instead of the eggs - just make sure you use the equivalent of 2 eggs. Chef Walter suggests variations of adding 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans or a bit of cinnamon to the batter, if you like.