Wednesday, September 24, 2008

.apple streusel spice bread.



In 2005, around the fall holidays, I was trying to think of ways to make a little side cash. I had been teaching piano and voice for years, but having moved here to Georgia, I was looking for some change. I thought about what I could do and remembered when I was growing up, we would make pies and breads to sell to neighbors and friends. I had a lightbulb moment and said to myself, "Hey I could do that!"

So I started working on my baking menu and one of the breads I created was an apple streusel spice bread. My first baking holiday (Thanksgiving) I sold $300.00 worth of bread and pie. I quadrupled that for the month of December. I was baking almost non-stop!

This bread was made daily at the bakery and was loved by many. I have even had some calls since closing the bakery asking if I could make them a loaf. It's that good. I'm sure you'll enjoy it too!


In a large bowl, put 2 cups flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp allspice. Mix.


In another bowl, put 1/2 cup applesauce, 1/3 cup melted butter (do not omit this), 2 Tbsp milk, and 2 eggs. Whisk.


Peel, core, and chop 1 granny smith apple. You can use 2 if you want more apple. I think this is a good balance though.


Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry.


Mix with a fork until the wet are incorporated. Don't overwork. If the batter seems a little too runny, add a little more flour. If the batter seems too thick, add a little more milk.



Add the apple and fold in.


Pour the batter into a greased bread pan.


In a small bowl, put 1/2 cup flour, and 3 Tbsp brown sugar. Mix together.


Cut in 3-4 Tbsp butter. You want the topping nice and crumbly. If you want to add some chopped nuts, do so at this time.


Dump the streusel topping on top of the bread.

Put in a 425* preheated oven.

After 10 minutes, lower the temperature of the oven to 350*. The heat of the oven will force hot air through the batter, giving it lift, and then lowering it will ensure it's baked all the way through.

Continue to bake for another 50 or so minutes. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.


Pull from the oven. It will be nice and golden on top.


Carefully tip the bread out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. You will lose some of the streusel topping -- sorry. :)

Serve warm with or without butter.

Enjoy!


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_113fj4pn3g6

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks yummy Suzanne! How much did you charge for a loaf of this bread? I may be needing to make and sell things this Christmas. Today I just made some pumpkin bread with Chocolate chips. I hope it's as good as it smells! Miss you!

Anonymous said...

Ok that comment was from me, Ronda, but it said anonymous. What the heck!

squillen said...

Hi Ronda!

I sold the bread for $5.00/loaf. You should sell the sweet potato bread too w/ the whipped cinnamon honey butter. That was a HUGE seller! You should have the sweet potato bread recipe in the family cookbook. Call me if you want to make that recipe. I made one critical change to it.

Natalie said...

Hey Suzanne! This looks delicious, and I can't wait to try it, especially after reading the description of your history with it. Thanks again for your inspiration! I am passing your blog around to ladies here in Dubai..,how cool is that? They gave your lime pie rave reviews.

Love,
~Natalie

Anonymous said...

This sounds amazing, but I'd like to make it into muffins for portability. Would the same baking directions apply for regular sized muffins?