Apple Bread

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter

2 eggs

2 cups flour or 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour or 2 cups ATK + 1½ tsp xanthan gum or 1 cup rice flour + ¾ cup millet flour + ¼ cup Bob’s Red Mill flour + 1½ tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ cups apples (I use tart apples, like McIntosh because I don’t like my bread overly sweet), peeled & diced (see blog post “A guide to preparing apples for baking”)

1 tsp GF vanilla

Cream sugar & butter until blended & smooth.

Add eggs, combine completely.

Whisk together dry ingredients. Add to butter mixture.

Add apples & vanilla. (You can do this on your electric mixer, but I do it by hand with a sturdy spatula. The dough is fairly stiff, but sometimes the apple pieces get a little mashed up if you use the mixer.)

Put in 1 large (about 4.5 inches x 8.5 inches) or 3 small (about 3 inches x 6 inches) prepared loaf pans. See blog post “A guide to preparing pans for baking quick (dessert) breads”.

Options to sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar. I think it adds a nice touch. You can purchase pre-mixed cinnamon & sugar. Or I use an empty spice jar with the plastic lid with holes & mix my own. I don’t use a specific amount – just use more or less cinnamon, depending on your taste!  

Bake at 350° for 45 mins – 1 hour. I rotate the pan(s) half way through, to make sure it/they bake evenly. Loaves made with GF flour tend to bake faster than those made with regular flour. The loaves should be a nice golden brown, but not more brown around the edges. You can check the doneness by inserting a toothpick into the middle, it should come out clean.

Gently loosen each loaf from pan with a table knife. Turn onto wire rack to cool.