The concept of a savory quick bread showcasing goat cheese fascinated me. I trust cookbook author Dorie Greenspan’s recipes, so I gave it a try. Sweetness teamed with earthy tanginess.
The recipe is in Greenspan’s “Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty, and Simple” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and her description made be long for a slice.
“No matter when I serve this easy nibble with its bits of goat cheese, a fair bit of mint, and more than a dash of ground black pepper, I imagine myself outdoors, at a garden party of a café terrace, with a glass of cold wine,” she wrote, adding that the wine would be a chilled rose.
I’ve served it this summer on the patio, once accompanying a Salade Nicoise, another time teamed with a pureed cold soup. In texture, it’s like a cross between a muffin and a sponge cake.
Goat Cheese-Black Pepper Quick Bread
Yield: 10 servings
INGREDIENTS
Butter or baker’s spray
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, preferably fruity
1 tablespoon honey
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 ounces soft goat cheese, cold, cut into small pieces (more or less 1/2-inch pieces)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
DIRECTIONS
1. Center oven rack to middle position and preheat it to 350 degrees. Butter an 8- to 8 1/2-inch loaf pan or use baker’s spray.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, milk, oil, honey and lemon zest. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and, using a flexible spatula, lightly stir the mixtures together; you don’t need to be thorough. Add the cheese and mint, and using as few strokes as possible, mix until almost uniformly incorporated — it is better to be fast than thorough here. You’ll have a heavy, sticky dough. Turn the dough out into the pan and use the spatula to poke it into the corners and to even the bumpy top.
3. Bake for 34 to 38 minutes, or until it’s golden, tall and crowned (perhaps cracked) and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and leave for 3 minutes, then unmold it onto the rack. Turn it right side up and let cool to room temperature. You can eat it when it’s warm, but I think the texture is better when it’s allowed to cool. The loaf cuts beautifully if you use a serrated knife and don’t make the slices too thin. Slice the bread about 1/2 inch thick. Wrapped well the loaf will keep for about 2 days at room temperature or for up to 2 months in the freezer (defrost in its wrapper).
Source: “Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty, and Simple” by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at @CathyThomas Cooks.com.
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