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This strawberry-lemon combo will brighten your day

Recipe: Tea bread makes the most of small berries

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAY 24, 2020

Sunny strawberry bread marries berries and lemon. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

This delightful tea bread combines two favorite flavors of spring: Strawberries and lemon. It also makes good use of small berries.

Small berries is what I have right now. My strawberries have had a bountiful May, producing pint after pint of flavorful berries. And they just keep going.

I grow Seascape, a disease-resistant ever-bearing variety that's bright red all the way through. It can take the heat and produces berries from April through November. Besides all those pluses, the flavor is intense and very berry.

The first round of fruit is always the largest and prettiest; those berries go into shortcake or on top of tarts. In late May, the plants are pumping out little jewels -- thimble-sized berries that are just the right size to bake into bread or other treats.

This recipe is an adaptation of Nicole Routhier's strawberry-lemon bread in her excellent "Fruit Cookbook" (Workman Publishing, 1996).

Tossing the strawberries with a little flour before baking keeps the fruit suspended in the batter instead of sinking to the bottom of the loaf.

Yes, it's a lot of butter, but the result is light and moist.

Still a few large Seascape berries, but mostly small ones now.

Sunny strawberry bread
Makes one large loaf

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and halved or quartered
2 cups flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For glaze:
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 8-1/2-by 4-1/2-by 2-1/2-inch loaf pan (or similar size); grease pan and line with parchment paper.

Prepare strawberries. Toss berries with 1/4 cup flour.

In a large bowl, sift together remaining 1-3/4 cups flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, combine beaten eggs and sugar. Stir in melted butter. Add lemon zest and vanilla extract. Fold in flour-covered strawberries.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add strawberry mixture and stir just until bended. It will be a thick and heavy batter.

Strawberry bread is great for brunch, a snack or dessert.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a long skewer comes out clean.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. In a small saucepan, combine lemon juice and sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring often. Let boil 1 minute, then remove from stove.

Let bread cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan. Slowly pour glaze over loaf, using a pastry brush or spoon to make sure the top is evenly covered.

Let bread cool at least 1 hour before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: Day-old strawberry bread makes good toast.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

baking recipes spring fruit strawberries lemon gardening Sacramento berries recipe backyard produce produce management

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Garden Checklist for week of April 21

This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.

* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.

* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.

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