Avocado Bread

I'm kinda cheating because I baked this bread the other day, but I have photos and it was delicious, so I'm keeping it anyway!

I'm a compulsive avocado buyer. Not sure what it is about these little fruits that makes me think we'll need 6 a week, but I almost always buy the whole bag. Then within a few days they're all perfect and ready to be eaten, but I can never think of anything to make with them other than guacamole. And there's only so much guacamole a girl can eat, you know?

So I took to Google to figure out what the heck I was going to do with them. Voila! One of the first things I see: Avocado bread. Brainwave! Why have I never thought of doing this before? I love avocados, I love bread, it follows that I would love avocado bread. (Okay, it doesn't really logically follow, but stay with me here.)

I used this recipe.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup mashed avocado (1 medium avocado)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to blend thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, beat together the egg and avocado. Stir in the buttermilk. Add to the dry ingredients and blend well. Stir in the pecans.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Yield: 1 loaf

From: Judy Gorman's Vegetable Cookbook

I made a couple changes though.

1. I used two avocados. I needed to get rid of them and it seemed to be a better balance with the amount of flour. The bread was super moist.
2. I used only about 2/3 c. of sugar. Since the bread was still quite sweet, I think next time I'll only use 1/2 c.
3. I just plain ole 1% milk since I didn't have any buttermilk.

The bread batter was really thick, smack dab in between a proper dough and banana bread.



Once baked, it was a gorgeous crispy golden brown on the outside and a creamy mild green on the inside. If it's possible, it tasted better than it looked. A balance between moist and heavy, creamy and sugary, it rose well and the crumb itself was nice and even. Still a bit too sweet for my taste, this would be a good breakfast bread or even a dessert bread.




I'm going to leave it overnight tonight and try it with cinnamon & nutmeg in french toast for breakfast tomorrow.