Explosive Apple Cinnamon Bread

Most mornings during the work week we don't really have time to sit down and eat breakfast, so we wind up eating a slice or two of bread as we run out the door.  We go through one loaf of a breakfast bread in a little over a week, so every weekend or so I throw together another loaf.  For the past several weeks we've been enjoying banana bread with peanut butter, but this week we were out of bananas, so we decided to come up with something more creative.

I've found that you can have a lot of flexibility with ingredients in quick breads and muffins as long as you keep a balance between the basic categories (fats, sweetener, additions, etc).  This is really helpful, because I'm kind of known for running out of key ingredients and making weird substitutions.  My experiments usually turn out okay, but they work a lot better when I have a flexible recipe in the first place!  Here is my basic quick bread/muffin recipe:


2 - 2.5 c flour (today I used all purpose flour with flax)
0.5 c sweetener (today I used brown sugar)
2 tsp baking powder
1 c milk
0.25 c fat (today I used oil)
1 egg
up to 1.5 c additions (today I used chopped apples)
spices, optional (today I used 2 T cinnamon)

For muffins, bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes.  For bread, bake at 400 F for about an hour.  Makes one loaf or 12 muffins.

We're not entirely sure why it wound up like this; it appears that the top crust formed quickly in the baking process, and later on when steam built up inside, it couldn't force its way through the top and wound up erupting out the side of the loaf.  I may try baking it at 350 F or 375 F next time, to see if that helps.