Whole Wheat Honey Quick Bread

We generally bake yeast bread a few times a week and usually use some version of  "no knead" bread first developed by Jim Lahey and made famous by Mark Bittman of the The New York Times.  That recipe requires the dough to sit over night, so it takes some advanced planning.  Forgot to do that last night, and here we were Sunday morning without any bread for brunch.  I dug around in my recipe collection and found this Whole Wheat Honey Quick Bread, which I cut at some point from a newspaper--who knows how long ago.

This bread is amazing!  It is almost like a yeast bread (though doesn't have the yeast flavor or smell).  The texture is light yet the crumb is also sturdy.  It's delicious right out of the oven and also good toasted, too.  The secret is the magic that happens when buttermilk (or sour milk) and soda combine.  You can see the dough rising almost as soon as you combine the liquid and dry ingredients.  It takes about 45-55 minutes to bake, so it's not as quick as biscuits or muffins, but this is a great alternative to yeast bread.  If you like this bread, also check out Honey Oat Quick Bread, posted last year.

WHOLE WHEAT HONEY QUICK BREAD

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 2/3 cups buttermilk (or plain yogurt or 1 1/2 cups
         milk and two tablespoons white vinegar)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, thoroughly mix buttermilk, honey and egg until well combined.  Pour liquid ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and, using a rubber spatula, quickly fold ingredients together until just combined (do not over mix).  Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes, turning mid-way to ensure bread bakes evenly. Bread is done when it's firm and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.    Cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.