Honey Nut Bread
(courtesy of Jennifer Rachel Baumer, writer and food blogger, Highdesertbakery.com. Makes 1 loaf)
2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
7 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar, minus 2 tablespoons*
2 large eggs, room temperature
⅓ cup milk
Handful of chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. While oven preheats, toast walnuts for 10 to 15 minutes, on foil or a baking tray. Don’t forget they’re in there.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
Blend the butter and sugar in a mixer bowl until it looks like sand. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing just until each is incorporated.
Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk in two to three additions, beginning with flour and ending with milk. Stir in most of the toasted walnuts. Stir until just mixed and scoop into a greased loaf pan (I use a 4.5-by-8.5-inch loaf pan). The batter will be sticky and somewhat thick.
Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick or knife blade inserted into loaf comes out clean.
Either in the loaf pan or on serving dish after removing from pan, drizzle honey over top of bread, letting it run down the sides and pool. Drop the remaining nuts into honey. Serve warm or at room temperature.
*High-altitude correction: The batter should be thick and sticky, but if it’s not holding together, add a little more milk, maybe a teaspoon at a time. The recipe as is works great at 5,000 feet, and you probably won’t need to add milk.
