Apple Bread

Active Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 1 ½ hours Makes: 1 loaf

• 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk or sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups peeled, diced apples
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

2. Make batter: Use an electric mixer to cream 1 stick butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, blending well. Stir in 2 cups flour and salt.

3. Add baking soda to buttermilk and allow to dissolve. Add buttermilk to batter, mixing well. Stir vanilla and apples into batter.

4. Make topping: Use an electric mixer to cream remaining butter and sugar. Stir in cinnamon, nuts and remaining flour.

5. Spoon batter into loaf pan and sprinkle with topping. Bake until set, 55-60 minutes. Let cool slightly before removing from pan, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

—Adapted from “Applehood & Motherpie: Handpicked Recipes from Upstate New York” by the Junior League of Rochester, 1981

Which brings us to Apple Bread. “Good as a coffee cake for teas and brunches,” Rochester Junior Leaguer Patricia A. Hainen tells us. The recipe that follows is for a buttery loaf cake studded with apple chunks and sprinkled with streusel, containing nothing more exotic than walnuts. The apple variety is left unspecified, a reminder that sometimes the best recipe is the one made from what’s on hand, in the time it takes your friends to fire up their sous-vide machines. Bake it on a Sunday and you’ll have the pleasure of a thick, crumbly slab to go with your morning coffee all week.

Inspired by the Junior League’s no-nonsense style and faced with a crisper drawer overflowing after a recent apple-picking excursion, I tried my hand at working the fall fruit into a simple dish as well suited to weekend brunch as apple bread is to weekday mornings. The result, a savory, sliceable bread pudding, marries the sweetness of apple with salty bacon and Gruyère cheese. I used Challah, but it can be made with an equal volume of cubed bread from virtually any sort of loaf. For goodness' sake, use whatever you have in the cupboard.

The addition of bacon brings salty richness to this apple bread pudding

Active Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 1 ½ hours Makes: 1 loaf

• Butter for greasing pan
• 6 slices bacon, preferably applewood-smoked
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 cups peeled, diced apples
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 5 large eggs
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cups cubed (about 1-inch pieces) Challah bread (from 1 loaf)
• ½ cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in middle. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp, 5-7 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain, then coarsely crumble.

3. Pour off most, but not all, of bacon fat from skillet. Increase heat to medium-high. Sauté shallots and garlic, stirring, until fragrant and softened, about 1 minute. Add apples and cook, stirring, until softened, 2 minutes.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, cream, eggs, salt and pepper. Stir in bread, apple mixture and bacon. Transfer to loaf pan, then sprinkle top with Gruyère.

5. Cover pan with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden, about 15 minutes more. Serve warm.

This will come out better and cheaper if you use 1 1/2 cans of evaporated milk instead of 1 1/2 cups of milk and a 1/2 cup of cream.