Amish Rhubarb Bread

"Rhubarb is undoubtedly an especially good medicine for the liver and infirmities

of the gall; for besides that it purgeth forth cholerick and naughty humors..."

- John Gerard, The Herbal (1663)

My husband calls it devil weed.  To this day I have been unable to produce anything that he will eat, which is unfortunate because we have a very prolific rhubarb plant by our garage.  

My grandma gave me this recipe which yields two lovely loafs of sweet bread.  As she recommended, I had it with coffee and it was wonderful.  I kept one and froze the other for my mom when she came home for the weekend; the kids and I polished off a loaf within a few days and mom admitted hers was half gone in a day.

I didn't have time to take a picture of the ingredients so I will just tell you.  This is what you'll need:


Bread mix

• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
•  1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Topping

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Beat together the brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla. 
3. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder; stir. 
4. Add dry ingredients to first mixture with the sour cream. 
5. Stir in rhubarb and nuts. 
6. Pour into 2 greased 9x5-inch loaf pans.
7. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over the loaves.

Bake at 350° for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

I followed these directions except for a few things:

1. I didn't use nuts because I didn't have any, but toasted walnuts make anything better so I would recommend it.
2. I used whole-wheat flour rather than all-purpose.  It is just better for you and I think it is better tasting.
3. I used parchment paper on the bottom of the greased pans to make removal easier. 

Popped out clean only minutes after coming out of the oven.

Let cool and slice.  Serve with butter or spread (Country Crock is our preference.)

Mangia!