Vanilla Bean Loaf

By Caroline Cummins, from the Culinate Kitchen collection

Introduction

The original version of this loaf is still made at the Hi-Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. New York Times food writer Amanda Hesser offered up her own adaptation in Cooking for Mr. Latte and Adam Roberts shares it on his blog, The Amateur Gourmet. However, should you find yourself short on the required 8 eggs, 3 sticks of butter, and 4 vanilla beans, try this milder version instead. It’s adapted from Cranberry Bread.

Ingredients

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans.
2. In a large mixing bowl, blend together the flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar.
3. Split the vanilla bean(s) and, using the flat edge of a knife, carefully scrape out the seeds. Stir the seeds and the vanilla extract into the egg-sugar mixture.
4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter (if using) and let cool before adding it to the egg-sugar mixture; otherwise, stir the canola oil into the egg-sugar mixture.
5. In another small saucepan, heat the scraped vanilla-bean pods and the milk (don’t let it scald). When hot, turn off the heat and let the milk steep, covered, for at least 10 minutes. Remove the vanilla pod; save to use in vanilla sugar, if desired.
6. Stir the milk into the egg-sugar mixture, then add the dry ingredients. (The batter will be thick.) Scrape the batter into the two loaf pans and spread out evenly.
7. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This content is from the Culinate Kitchen collection.