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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Apricot Bran Bread

I still have a pretty full box of Bran Flakes left and I wanted to do something different than muffins this time. After some online searching, I found several recipes for Apricot Bran bread. I was intrigued by this recipe, as it has you mix all of the ingredients but the flour and then let it sit out overnight (it didn't say anything about refrigerating, but Ryan was not a fan of leaving it out on the counter, so I put it in the fridge overnight...I didn't want to be forced to eat the 2 loaves by myself!). Furthermore, this bread recipe has no eggs or oil, which is pretty atypical for a quick bread (aka super low fat). Intrigued, I opted to give it a go and boldly doubled the recipe (trying to get rid of milk before it goes bad!).

Two nights ago, I mixed the bread up and then I actually finished the bread off the next morning before heading into work. I guess there are some benefits to being up at 5 am every day! This bread turned out wonderfully and I'm pretty happy we now have an extra loaf waiting for us in the freezer! It's a very short, dense bread with sort of a gummy texture which might turn a lot of people off. However, we really liked the texture and flavor. On our way out the door to work, we both tried a bite of it warm and liked it...but both liked it better that night after it sat in the fridge all day. This is definitely different than the usual quick bread, but it was a nice change and I know the first loaf won't last long!

Apricot Bran Bread
adapted from this recipe

Ingredients: (for 2 loaves)
-2 cups bran flakes
-2 cups milk
-1 1/2 cups brown sugar
-2 cups chopped, dried apricots (I used my food processor for this)
-2 tablespoons honey
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1 cup whole wheat flour

Directions:
1. Put the bran flakes, milk, sugar, apricots, and honey in a bowl. Cover and let it sit out overnight.
2. The next day, add the flour and mix well.
3. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.
4. Bake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees (or until a toothpick comes out clean)

Day 1: All ingredients except the flour

Day 2: Flour added, all mixed up

Ready for the oven...and forgot to take a picture upon removal :)