Rhubarb Bread Recipe
Enjoy Tangy Rhubarb Baked Up in a Delicious Loaf of Southern Bread
Rhubarb stalks look like celery and usually with some red streaks. Rhubarb certainly doesn't taste like celery though. Rhubarb has a unique sour bite.
Mountain kids love to pick fresh rhubarb and chew on the stalks even though rhubarb can be sour enough to make their eyes water. More often adults like to use rhubarb in recipes for a different flavor that is wonderful when combined with sweet flavors. A great example is strawberry rhubarb jam. That’s a traditional Southern favorite. Another classic is rhubarb bread, and here’s a favorite version from the mountains.
Mountain Rhubarb Bread Recipe
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup butter or margarine
- 1 TBS orange peel – grated
- 1 tsp vanilla flavoring
- 2 eggs
- 2 ½ cups plain flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cups buttermilk
- 1 ½ cup fresh rhubarb chopped (can use frozen – do not thaw)
- ¾ cups chopped pecans (other nuts are fine too)
Directions:
- Mix the sugar, butter, orange peel, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each egg.
- Measure out the flour but remove around ¼ cup. Put the ¼ cup in with the chopped rhubarb and shake or stir to coat the rhubarb. This helps keep it from sinking to the bottom of the bread loaf.
- Mix the baking soda and salt in with the remaining flour (2 ¼ cups at this point).
- Alternate between mixing in the flour mixture and the buttermilk. Don’t overmix at this point. Just blend until even. If you overmix this type of bread at the flour stage, it will taste tough.
- Gently fold in the floured rhubarb and nuts. It’s fine to put the nuts in with the rhubarb and flour and then fold all at once.
- Grease the bottom of a bread load pan (9 x 5 inch).
- Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F for around an hour and 20 minutes. Ovens vary so check. The bread is done when you can stick a toothpick in the center, and it comes out clean.
- Let cool for 10 minutes or so before removing from pan.
- Slice and serve with butter or cream cheese.
- Try out some other favorite Southern breads:
Old Fashioned Southern Cornbread - It's hard to beat cornbread and a big pot of soup beans. Many Southerners love to pour the pintos right on top of the cornbread and eat it with a spoon.
Southern Blueberry Nut Bread - Blueberry bread has long been a favorite all across the South. It bakes up very pretty too with the little berries giving it a nice color and flavor.
Carrot Bread - If you like carrot cake but something that isn't quite as rich, try Southern Carrot Bread. It makes a wonderful holiday loaf with the appealing orange color, but it's super all year since carrots are easy to find at the grocery store.
