Fresh Strawberry Bread

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 1 cup pureed fresh strawberries
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (i leave them out) (optional)

Recipe

• 1 pour pureed strawberries into a small saucepan. heat to boiling over medium heat and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly; cool.
• 2 in a large mixing bowl, cream sugar, shortening and eggs until light and fluffy.
• 3 combine remaining dry ingredients.
• 4 alternately add flour mixture and water to creamed mixture, mixing at low speed.
• 5 stir in pureed strawberries.
• 6 blend well, so that there are no patches of batter, but be careful not to overmix, or bread will be tough.
• 7 fold in nuts, if using.
• 8 put batter in a 9x5 loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray, or into two 1-lb pans.
• 9 bake at 350° for about 1 hour (45-50 minutes for the smaller pans), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• 10 cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
• 11 mellow bread by wrapping in foil and freezing or storing at room temperature for 24 hours. important: don't skip this step. this bread is pretty tasteless right out of the oven. a definite case of what a difference a day makes.