3.02.2011

Maida Heatter's Indian River Sweet Orange Bread


This bread is a staple at my house. Along with my coconut bread, I usually have a loaf  in the freezer at all times for unexpected company. The coconut bread (For some reason I've never posted that, so if you want the recipe, email me.) is my daughter's and, I was informed yesterday, my granddaughter's favorite, but personally I prefer this orange bread. Maida Heatter's of course....my dessert guru. I've said it before, but will repeat myself: I've never made a recipe of hers that failed or that I didn't like. That is really saying something.


Years ago, among her many other accomplishments, Ms. Heatter used to give cooking classes in Miami. My mother regretted for years that she never drove down to take them. This was before I lived in Florida or I would have gone with her. Mother was addicted to cooking classes, she loved them.  She was a Maida Heatter fan from way back. I was indoctrinated early. :)


I prefer it toasted and in the photo below, if you look closely, you can see the bits of orange rind in it. It's what makes this bread so special. That bright orange flavor. The only other way I've served it is for tea sandwiches; add a little cream cheese between two slices, cut on the diagonal, chill them and serve. Delicious. And as with so many sweet bread recipes like this, I bet it would make marvelous French toast too.


Indian River Sweet Orange Bread

From Book of Great Desserts by Maida Heatter





Ingredients:


4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 large oranges (to yield 1 1/3 cups juice)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons butter
3 eggs


Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and put a rack 1/3 up from the bottom of the oven. Butter two loaf pans (8  1/2 x 4  1/2 x 2  1/2) and then coat them lightly with fine, dry bread crumbs.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
With a vegetable peeler, remove the thin, bright colored outer rind of about 2  1/2 oranges and reserve it. Squeeze the oranges. You will need 1  1/3 cups juice. Set it aside.
Cut the rind into slivers. Place the rind, sugar and water into a saucepan. Stir over high heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and let mixture boil gently without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter. Stir to melt. Beat the eggs lightly just to mix and stir them in. Pour this over the dry ingredients and stir until dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened.
Pour into prepared pans. Shake gently to level batter. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out dry.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing to racks to finish cooling.


59 comments:

  1. I think the bread looks awesome too! Yeap, I like it toasted too. The photo look so inviting. Yummmm.... Thanks for sharing cause I'm copying down for my next project. :o) Hope you're enjoying your day.
    Love, Kristy

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  2. That sounds wonderful. Looks beautiful toasted.

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  3. I'd certainly like to have a loaf of this in my freezer right now. It looks delicious toasted.

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  4. Looks like my kind of bread - with oranges!! Need to try this...I'm nervous it won't come out like this.

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  5. So wonderful and scrumptious with orange flavor, I bet a French toast with this bread is just fantastic!

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  6. I'm feeling a bit melancholy after reading this post, Barbara. My aunt use to send us Indian River Oranges every year for Christmas when she lived in Florida. She has since passed and each Christmas I remember her and her "surprise" box of oranges.

    Your Sweet Orange Bread looks delightful, I sure wish I had a loaf in my freezer too!

    Thank you so much for sharing...

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  7. It looks wonderful..I love lemon and orange breads..thank you.

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  8. WOW Barbara I think this look absolutely amazing! love these type of breads! gloria

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  9. I have to try this before the orange season is over! Looks delicious!

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  10. Printing the recipe and adding anything I need to the grocery list for tonight's run... and Friday night, I'm making that bread!!

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  11. What a delightful flavor! That bread must taste great.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  12. Orange bread simply sounds heavenly. Lightly toasted with butter in the morning or for french toast. Yum. I can almost taste it. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. No wonder it's a favourite.

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  13. Looks fantastic, and toasted is even better! I just make have to skip toasted pound cake and make this bread. Toasted would be so nice with a scoop of orange sorbet! Or vanilla ice cream. Or both!

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  14. Drool! I am making this now :)

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  15. Barbara, this bread looks lovely and so full of flavor. You have a beautiful blog and I’m so glad to have found it. I’m looking forward to exploring your recipes and seeing more! :)

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  16. I love orange flavor, it adds a nice zest to whatever it's in. This sounds sooo good!

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  17. Orange bread sounds great--nice and toasted, it seems even more heavenly!

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  18. Hey Barbara! You know, I live in Fort Lauderdale and I've only driven through Miami once to go to The Keys, so I understand your Mom not making the drive. It's a hard one...
    Either way, this bread looks wonderful! I love anything with citrus rind in it. Yum!

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  19. this looks so good I adore citrus recipes, let me know if I can feature it on a FL citrus growers blog?

    rebeccasubbiah at yahoo dot com

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  20. What a lovely bread Barbara. I'm doing a lot with citrus lately.

    What a shame your mother missed the cooking classes. Sometimes we don't appreciate things at the time and kick ourselves later. We didn't go to one of Elvis' last concerts for reasons unknown. Guess we thought he would be around forever. A decision we'll always regret.
    Sam

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  21. What a fantastic orange loaf! That two slices are beckoning at me :-))

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  22. How delicious! I so love anything with a bit of orange. I eat at least one orange a day (its great for people who dont absorb lots of iron--though i'm not sure if it works in bread ;)).
    *kisses* HH

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  23. I "heart" this bread and this recipe... I love the springtime, but I bemoan the disappearance of fresh citrus... I am going to give this a try and hang onto citrus sunshine just a little bit longer!

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  24. oh yes it would make great french toast - wow - all I smell is orange now - amazing how a blog can do that.

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  25. thanks Barbara always love your recipes :-)

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  26. Isn't that funny. I made a mint brownie of hers years ago and hated it... never bought her cookbooks because of it... am I bad. You have really made me think again about my ban on her books... wasn't fair, was it?? I love the idea of orange bread....well oranges really. Have been making alot of Chinese chicken with orange and loving it. Great idea to pop the breads in the freezer for unexpected drop-ins!

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  27. A lovely bread that I would love to make. One shouldn't live in Florida without using our oranges.

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  28. Hi Barbara,
    What a lovely recipe especially for late Winter and as we head towards Spring. You always share such delightful recipes ( I still can't wait until the rhubarb is available here so I can make your bars!!!)
    I love orange in any possible way I can eat or drink it.
    Have a lovely weekend
    xx
    Bunny

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  29. Ahh, fresh bread toasted with the bright favor of citrus!

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  30. I've been a fan of Maida's for years, but I don't cook (or bake) her recipes often enough. How fun that you were indoctrinated early! And, this bread looks amazing.

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  31. I can imagine that the orange really lifts this bread-into heaven! :D

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  32. I'm betting too that this would make an absolutely fantastic french toast. Beautiful loaf of bread!

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  33. This bread sounds delicious. I've never tried any of Maida Heatter's recipes, but I think this is a good place to start!

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  34. I simply love it that you have bread in the freezer to pull out for guests. There is nothing more welcoming than a hostess who offers you baked goods and a hot beverage. I imagine visiting you must be a real treat.

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  35. gorgeous flavors, i love this bread!

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  36. It sounds so good! I've always wanted to take a cooking class.

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  37. I love the bright flavor of orange in sweet breads. This orange bread looks delicious and I'd love to have a couple of loaves- one to eat now and one to freeze for later. :) Do you think that you'd get the same results with a microplane to zest the orange rind?

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  38. oh yum! what a great bread!

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  39. I think I may make this tomorrow! I also love Maida Heatter, loved her passion and enthusiasm, her attention to detail, her thoroughness; I think I may have tried hundreds of her recipes, cookies, cakes, tarts, bars, you name it. I guess that was my Maida Heatter period! :)

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  40. This looks pretty good to me my friend...happy Friday. xoxox

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  41. It looks incredible all toasted up and waiting to be enjoyed over a cup of tea. Perfect!

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  42. This looks perfect with tea or hot chocolate! I will definitely have to try it :)

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  43. Ooooh...love the look of your orange bread. Would be so good with a cup of tea. Love it.

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  44. orange bread? oranges? i've never heard of such a thing! come to think of it, i've never even seen orange-flavored muffins or the like. yes, i've seen cranberry muffins with a bit of orange zest, but never anything so totally orange. awesome.

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  45. Oh Barbara, I LOVE ORANGE ANYTHING, especially bread or cake...my mom used to use those OLD Betty Crocker cook books from the 50s and 60s when I was a little girl and would make all those buttercream frostings with her old SUNBEAM mixer and make the best cakes. But my favorite was orange cake with chocolate frosting. Ahhhhh.....and thank you for your kind words and visit. Listen to the silence dearest! It does a body good....Anita

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  46. my 85 year old neighbor invited us for dinner tonight because he's made a wonderful orange bread/cake - he told us - that he can't wait to share with us.

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  47. I still have plenty of oranges on the trees and I love new recipes to enjoy them in.
    Mimi

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  48. What a yummy looking bread!! Now on to the coconut bread? Please...

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  49. i am already drooling over this bread! it looks so moist :) wow! thank you for sharing this i cant wait to try it out. i will email you for the coconut bread recipe:)

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  50. I'm loving the orange in this bread...so delicious!

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  51. This looks SO good Barbara. Thanks for the recipe. I love citrus in anything.

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  52. With hungry mouths to feed after school, I am always on the lookout for great afternoon snacks. You have provided me with so many fantastic ideas, and this is another MUST for this week. My dad just gave me about 20 pounds of oranges. Can't wait. It looks scrumptious!

    Thanks, Barbara!

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  53. This bread sounds really really good. I like your idea of freezing it for unexpected company.

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  54. This could easily become a staple in my house...especially because of the orange presence ;o)

    I'm looking forward to the enticing coconut bread too...since I'm also a real nut for coconut. LOL (sorry, bad joke...I couldn't help myself).

    Flavourful wishes,
    Claudia

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  55. How sweet , i lovee al the stories u have with the wonderful goodies u bake and this is no exception.
    The orangy goodness makes it even better am sure.

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  56. I am loving citrus baked goods these days! Your bread looks soo yummy!

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  57. Hi Barbara! I just made this bread this afternoon, and it was a hit! Of course. :) You are so right, the orange zest really gives this a wonderful flavor.

    One thing, however. In the directions, I think you need to instruct people to put the orange juice into the batter. It's easy to figure out, but for a moment, I was surprised at how dry the batter was until I remembered I still had the juice sitting aside. :D

    Delicious! I'll have to try it toasted tomorrow.

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  58. AH! I love lemon loaf, and this looks lovely - especially toasted the way you have done it. I just saved the recipe. YUM!
    :)
    Valerie

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  59. I know I'd love this recipe! Now I'm thinking stuffed French toast with a little marmalade. Yum!

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