Melt in Your Mouth Fresh Strawberry Bread

Have fresh garden strawberries? Try this fresh strawberry bread with melt-in-your-mouth strawberry glaze. This quick bread recipe comes together in just 10 minutes. If you love fruit breads, you’ll also love our cherry bread!

Fresh fruit can be tricky to work with because it adds a lot of moisture to the bread. Finely diced strawberries worked beautifully in this recipe, though. We used about 2 cups of small strawberry pieces. I usually say the more fruit, the better, so at times we’ve added about 2 1/2 cups of fruit. And it totally works, but the bread can be so moist that it almost falls apart with that much fruit. Is that really a problem? You decide. Anywhere between 2-2 1/2 cups of fruit should work just fine.

Remember as with all quick breads to not over mix the batter. Mix the wet ingredients well, then mix in the dry ingredients just until they are combined. Then gently fold in the strawberries (remember to toss the strawberries with flour so that they don’t all sink to the bottom of the loaf).

The exact baking time will depend on not only the size and shape of the pan, but also if the pan is glass or metal. It should take *about* 50-55 minutes to bake. Be careful not to open the oven too much when it is baking or the bread could fall in the middle. Peek in with the oven light on until it “looks” done, then test it with a toothpick.

STRAWBERRY GLAZE
We used 1/3 cup of freshly diced strawberries in this powdered sugar glaze. A couple of tips about the glaze:

• Allow the bread to cool completely before you add the glaze or it will melt everywhere.
• We didn’t need any milk or cream to make the glaze spreadable, but it may depend on the juiciness of your strawberries. The glaze will be very thick and look like it is not mixing up, but if you keep mixing, it should create a nice creamy pink glaze as shown below. If it doesn’t, add milk or heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time. The glaze will soften as it sits too since the sugar pulls out juices from the strawberries. Keep this in mind when adding milk and don’t add too much!
• If you’d like less calories per slice, make 1/2 a recipe of the glaze and just drizzle it overtop. We make enough to make it a thick icing because…well..we love frosting!
• Because of the fresh fruit in the glaze, you’ll want to store the bread in the refrigerator.

You’ll Need:

For the Bread:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups diced strawberries
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/3 cup finely diced strawberries
• 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk** (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, milk, oil, egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
3. In a small bowl, toss together the strawberries and the 2 tablespoons of flour to coat the strawberries. Fold the floured strawberries gently into the batter.
4. Pour the bread batter into a greased 9"x5" bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of the bread should come out clean. Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the bread to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, melted butter, diced strawberries and extract in a small bowl. Mix until it is smooth.
6. Once the bread is cool, spread the glaze on top of the bread. Slice and serve.

NOTES:

• *I often add an extra teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract to the bread batter (along with the wet ingredients) for an extra boost of flavor. I do this especially if I'm not putting the glaze on top. The bread has the most flavor when you add the strawberry glaze!
• *We have added up to 2 1/2 cups of diced strawberries to the batter. The bread stays together the best when you use about 2 cups.
• **We didn't need any milk or cream to make the glaze spreadable, but it may depend on the juiciness of your strawberries. The glaze will be very thick and look like it is not mixing up, but if you keep mixing, it should create a nice creamy pink glaze as shown below. If it doesn't, add milk or heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time. The glaze will soften as it sits too since the sugar pulls out juices from the strawberries. Keep this in mind when adding milk and don't add too much!
• ***The calories shown are based on the bread being cut into 10 pieces (and all of the frosting used), with 1 serving being 1 slice of bread. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.

Source: tastesoflizzyt.com