There's a day for everything

Did you know today is Homemade Bread Day?  Yeah, me either.  It certainly hadn't crossed my radar screen until one of the D.C. food blogs I track in handy dandy Google Reader pointed it out.  Would I usually celebrate Homemade Bread Day?  Knowing me, it's quite possible, but I'm going to go with a negatory on that one simply due to my lack of awareness.  Am I going to celebrate Homemade Bread Day this year?  You betcha!  I mean, I need something to blog about today, so why not some tasty bread?  Although...at the moment I'm assuming it's tasty because it's still in the oven and I don't know if it's ACTUALLY tasty or not, but based on what went into it and my batter taste tests (absolutely necessary, by the way), I'm going to say it's safe to call it tasty.  Phew.  Besides, I ate the last of the apple cinnamon buttermilk cake for breakfast this morning (that's right, cake for breakfast - just do it), so why not make another baked good that will pass for breakfast fare?

Not wanting to overanalyze or complicate the whole bread adventure, I opted to skip yeast and go the quick bread route.  Besides, who has time to let dough rise these days?  Maybe on a weekend, but certainly not on a weeknight.  Off to allrecipes.com, type in "apple bread" for a quick search, and go with what comes up highly rated.  It's pretty reliable.  So I made this because it has "breakfast" in the title and is therefore automatically healthier/more acceptable for consumption in the AM hours.  I used Honeycrisp apples because I bought a slightly obscene number of them when they were readily available everywhere during their short peak period and they've now gone a little past peak living in my fridge and aren't overly appealing to bite into:

I subbed in a 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for the white (healthy healthy!  ignore the butter, it's healthy!) and did half brown sugar and half white sugar for some extra oomph.  Just in case you care, which I seriously doubt you do.  And yes, a slightly more sane person might have just eaten an apple for breakfast instead of incorporating it into a baked good. Truly healthier, tons easier, and doesn't create a single dirty dish.  But wouldn't you rather add this...

...and sugar and spices and carbohydrates and mix it all up and put it in the most gorgeous Emile Henry baking dish received from dear friends...

...to create something tasty that makes your whole apartment smell awesome?

Happy Homemade Bread Day, ya'll, and happy breakfast/snacking/dessert times to me.  I really love baking.