I wanted “something raspberry” with the small pack of berries I bought Thursday, and a quick late night Google search brought this recipe up immediately. I used it exactly as I found it on Averiecooks.com blog page except using less raspberries than called for and adding chopped pecans to the batter. Moist and dense, this sweet bread is just Plain ‘Ole Raspberry Perfection! Right here! Make it early in the day and let it mellow before slicing if you can wait. It’s only going to taste even better!

I used fresh berries as recommended; they are available now in my local market and frozen berries do produce extra juice, not needed here. It’s always so exciting spotting those first shelves of fresh berries in the produce aisle, and if I had 12-oz of berries I would definitely use them. Omit the nuts if you wish; I like them for the texture they bring and they make up for using less fruit. The batter is rich with buttermilk, oil, and melted butter; don’t over stir it; it is lumpy and shouldn’t be smooth. The fats added lightness to the batter and it slid right from the bowl under its own steam into the loaf pan. Those fats also guarantee a dense moist bread, bursting with flavorful tang of buttermilk and melted butter. The brown sugar casts a lovely golden color and adds sweetness.

I did bake the bread for 55 minutes today as it was still wet at 45 minutes. I turned the oven off then and let the bread sit in the oven 5 more minutes. It browned nicely and dropped easily from the pan after it cooling 20 minutes. A small knife run around the sides of the pan will loosen the bread perfectly and it drops right from the pan. Cool completely on wire rack with bread wrapped in lightly in foil. A dollop of Cool Whip on each slice will be extra good tonight!

I followed the directions as given but rewrote them using my words and my results today. I couldn’t agree more with Averie that this is the BEST raspberry bread around! At my house, today, at least! It won’t last until tomorrow because it was made for sharing, but if there are leftovers, wrap slices in foil and store in an airtight bag. This will be even better the next day, guaranteed! I have no idea what’s for supper but, with a glass of cold milk, following half a day of water sloshing all-out cleaning on the front porch, i found that two slices of this raspberry bread made a wonderful late lunch. Hey, now, it’s Spring! Get Raspberries! Be Delighted!

The BEST Raspberry Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 to 12 ounces raspberries, about 2 cups (today, 6 oz.)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. grease and flour a 9×5″ loaf pan; set aside.

In a large bowl, add the flour, the brown and white sugars, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine; set aside.

Melt the butter. Allow butter to cool slightly then add the egg, buttermilk, oil, vanilla. Whisk well.

Pour wet ingredients over the dry and stir until just combined; don’t over mix. Batter will be somewhat lumpy; don’t try to stir the lumps smooth or bread will be tough; set aside.

In a medium bowl, add raspberries and 2 tablespoons flour; toss lightly to combine. Add the floured raspberries to the batter nad fold in, along with the pecans, if using, very lightly to combine. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and distributing batter well in pan.

NOTE: Recipe recommends if using frozen berries, bake for 1 hr 17 minutes. Tent foil over the pan after 30 minutes. Today, using fresh berries, I baked it for 55 minutes, with foil tented over it at 30 minutes) then turned the oven off and let it sit for five more minutes. Test the batter after 45 minutes and adjust. Bread is done when the top springs back and a tooth pick inserted has no batter on it. Allow bread to cool in pan for 20 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.