Bread – The Pretty Homestead

Rhubarb is in most yards in Northern Minnesota. And lovely, lovely rhubarb is the first grown fruit or veg that shows up in the spring. When I’m waiting for my tomatoes, beets, kale, peas, everything, I get to enjoy some one-on-one time with the rhubarb in the kitchen. Boy oh boy do I love it! And this rhubarb streusel bread just might be my favorite rhubarb recipe.

Rhubarb Streusel Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen rhubarb, chopped between 1/4-1/2 inch

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon cold butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 in x 4 in loaf pans and lightly coat with flour.

With an electric mixer, mix together brown sugar, oil and egg. Beat in buttermilk and vanilla. Add salt and baking soda, mix. Then mix in flour. Fold in chopper rhubarb with a rubber spatula. Divide batter between the two loaf pans.

To prepare the topping: Combine sugar, ground cinnamon and butter in a bowl. Use fingers to work ingredients together until mixture is uniform and crumbly. Sprinkle over rhubarb bread batter.

Bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted to center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then use a knife to release bread from sides of pans and turn out to finish cooling on the rack. Cut with a serrated knife.

Just a quick couple of notes about this recipe: I never buy actual buttermilk. Do you? I just measure out a hair less milk than the recipe calls for and add a quick glop of vinegar to it. It curdles the milk, and works as a perfect substitute.

If you like nuts in your bread, feel free to add some walnuts or pecans and tell me how you like it!

And if you prefer a denser bread, just use one teaspoon soda instead of one and one half, just know that it won’t rise as much. It’ll still be tasty, though!

And finally, this recipe is very forgiving with the amount of rhubarb that you use. If you only have 1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb, that’s ok! And if you want to add three whole cups, go ahead! You can probably tell that I’m the sort of cook who uses most recipes as an outline or inspiration for my cooking and baking. I encourage you to follow your heart, too. Have fun in your kitchen and tell me how you like your rhubarb streusel bread!

My dad found this old wood stove at an auction for a steal, and he wanted to make bread. So I brought my baking stuff over to his house and together we made bread. The kind you knead and let rise and punch down and shape and bake and all that. And it was SO GOOD! Unfortunately, though, his hands and wrists were killing him the next day. See, he has Psoriatic Arthritis. His joints get mad at him when he uses them in ways that they don’t want to be used. Like kneading. So then he just used the frozen dough that you buy at the store, and he’d bake that. It was so bland and boring. That’s when I came up with this easy, no knead, dutch oven, artisan bread. This one’s for you, Dad!

Dad and I made beautiful bread in his antique wood stove.

This artisan bread is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. You only need to wash your bowl and spoons afterwards, no elbow grease needed to get those counter tops cleaned up! The whole thing is baked in a dutch oven (technically, mine is a french oven–potato, potato).

Now, I personally like to knead my bread. I can get all my frustration out, and there’s just something about handling bread dough that makes me feel so wholesome, grounded and primordial.

But…

This recipe is so quick. It’s so easy and foolproof and delicious and the textures and appearances are so dynamic. I love it!

With no further ado, I give to you (drum roll, please)….

No Knead Dutch Oven Artisan Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar or honey (or a combo of the two)
2 Teaspoons salt
4 1/4 cups flour

Instructions:

Proof yeast by combining with warm water and sugar or honey in a large bowl. Let rest 5 minutes. Add salt. Add flour one cup at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon. Dough may still be slightly sticky, but should form a ball in the bottom of the bowl. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.

Place your dutch oven with lid in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Remove your hot dutch oven, liberally sprinkle some flour inside, then carefully lift or dump your risen bread dough (do not punch down!) and place inside your hot dutch oven. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake for another 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Cut with a serrated knife and enjoy!

My Great-Grandmother Cora used to say that if you cut bread when it’s hot that you’ll make it sad. I mean, I like a hot slice of bread, but if you cut it hot you do run the risk of collapsing your loaf or altering the look of the crumb. To each their own! Follow your heart.

I used to use parchment paper to lower and lift my bread into and out of the dutch oven. It helps to prevent sticking, and you can take the bread out of the oven right away after it’s baked. Then one day I was making and reached in the drawer for the parchment paper only to find there was none! So I made it without, and I swear it was better. The crust was crisper and the shape was more interesting. I recommend that you forego the parchment paper, but whatever you do, give this recipe and try and let me know what you think!