Quick Bread Flavors?

I've been looking for an awesome quick bread recipe that can be used as a base for other flavor options. I think I found it with Milk Street's brown butter cardamom banana bread.
I ground einkorn berries into flour and let the batter sit in the fridge overnight to fully hydrate. I gently stirred in the baking soda and baking powder the next morning, right before pouring it into the baking pan. I made a few other changes, too. I added a half cup of ground walnuts (soaked and dried first). I also used sucanat instead of white sugar and reduced it just a little, and I omitted the vanilla. With all of the other flavors happening, I didn't feel like vanilla was necessary. This was the best tasting banana bread that I've ever made! And it was fluffy, much more so than I would expect from a completely whole grain bread.

Now I want to try other flavors and see if the recipe continues to impress. So far, I've made acorn squash gingerbread, and it was awesome, too. I'm thinking pumpkin spice bread and sweet potatoes with toasted pecans will be happening soon. Maple rutabaga is one I've made before and liked, so I want to try it with this recipe, too.

I want to use chai spices in a version. What veggie would you pair with chai? Butternut squash, parsnips, something else?

What other veggie/spice/nut combo can you see replacing the banana and cardamom?

After grinding our own flour for a year now, and never once achieving fluffy bread I commend you. I'm intrigued by the idea of parsnip bread and I hope you'll share the results if you do try it!

This post instantly made me think of a recipe that is more dessert than bread but the flavor combination is unique nonetheless so it might help you as you try out flavors. It's a Kabocha Tumeric Tea Cake but we've substituted various winter squash varieties for the Kabocha. Lately we've been making it with an abundance of Red Kuri squash. The spices are perfect for drizzly, fall weather.

In terms of Chai that's the spice we add when pickling beets. I wonder if the combo would work in bread as well.

For chai spices, I would use carrot.

I'd pair beets with cocoa.

I used to make apple cheddar quick bread fairly regularly...and apple cheddar sandwiches and crackers and salads 😁

Jori Love wrote:After grinding our own flour for a year now, and never once achieving fluffy bread I commend you. I'm intrigued by the idea of parsnip bread and I hope you'll share the results if you do try it!

This post instantly made me think of a recipe that is more dessert than bread but the flavor combination is unique nonetheless so it might help you as you try out flavors. It's a Kabocha Tumeric Tea Cake but we've substituted various winter squash varieties for the Kabocha. Lately we've been making it with an abundance of Red Kuri squash. The spices are perfect for drizzly, fall weather.

In terms of Chai that's the spice we add when pickling beets. I wonder if the combo would work in bread as well.

I'm intrigued by that recipe! I've never considered putting tumeric in quick bread, and now I want to try it. Thanks for the suggestions!

I had parsnips for the first time last week. I figure since I like carrot muffins, parsnips wouldn't be a stretch. But I don't want exactly the same spices as the carrot muffins.

Chai with pickled beets is another combo I've never heard of. I've been wondering what to pair with beets besides chocolate, but I couldn't find any other recipes. I may try it first with golden beets.

Jan White wrote:For chai spices, I would use carrot.

I'd pair beets with cocoa.

I used to make apple cheddar quick bread fairly regularly...and apple cheddar sandwiches and crackers and salads 😁

I've seen recipes for grilled cheese sandwiches with apples, but I've always bypassed anything that paired warm cheese with apples. It just didn't sound appetizing. But I suppose your post triggered something, because I dreamed last night that I ate apple cheddar bread and my dream self said it was delicious. 😋😂 Looks like I need to try it soon!

I have a couple of vintage cookbooks with recipes for chocolate malted quickbread.  It seems to have been popular, even if it seems like an unusual choice today.  That might go well with a bit of beet or something else that doesn't have too strong a flavor of its own.

Holly Stockley wrote:I have a couple of vintage cookbooks with recipes for chocolate malted quickbread.  It seems to have been popular, even if it seems like an unusual choice today.  That might go well with a bit of beet or something else that doesn't have too strong a flavor of its own.

I've never made anything that's malted. That combo sounds like it has potential to be good!

The vintage versions aren't usually glazed, but this is pretty close to what they're like. Though most of them use the regular malted milk power, not the chocolate flavored kind. The cinnamon applesauce is interesting, too.  I do like cinnamon and chocolate.  Not sure about cinnamon and chocolate malt.

https://www.dineanddish.net/differences-triple-chocolate-malt-bread/

Update ahead! Aside from banana bread, our favorite combo so far has been pear parsnip. For the 2 cups of produce, I use 1 cup of grated parsnip and 1 cup of chunky pear puree. I dice pears and simmer them to reduce the liquid and then lightly mash them, measuring out 1 cup of pear puree for the recipe. Any extra puree is eaten with a spoon or frozen for the next batch of quick bread. For seasoning, I've used chai spices or just cinnamon. With the sweetness of the pears and parsnips, I've used as little as 2 tablespoons of sugar or honey and we still enjoyed it.

Other successful flavors have been chai carrot, sweet potato with cinnamon and toasted pecans, and peach with cinnamon (reducing the liquid in half of the peaches like the pears above).
I want to try cherry almond, roasted strawberry, or lemon balm with summer squash next.