Peaches and Cream Streusel Bread

I love the town that I live in.  My house is amazing.  My family is here.  The schools are great.  And one of my - and Mark's - favorite parts about Westminster is the farmer's market!  For a pretty small town, we have a really great farmer's market all summer.  Sadly, it ends for the season tomorrow, but Mark and I try to go every single Friday.  We load up on fresh fruit and vegetables grown around here, and have been known to buy breads, dog treats, even ice cream made from milk and cream from cows here in town!  How cool is that?  We think it's pretty awesome. It was great to have a constant supply of tomatoes all summer without having a garden.  And don't get me started on my new addiction to ground cherries.  Have you ever tried one?  Find some, stat!

Anyway, last month the market was full of peaches.  And I don't just mean any peaches - I mean the biggest peaches I've ever seen.  Mark obviously got too excited about them and bought the biggest ones he could fit in a bag.  I realized once we got them home and started eating them that perhaps I don't love peaches as much as I thought.  I love the inside, but that skin... ugh.  So itchy and scratchy. I started peeling them to eat, covering my whole kitchen with peach juice.  Then, as I had expected, we started losing the race against time.  We had too many peaches and not enough people eating peaches!  I knew I should probably find a way to bake with the giants we had left before they rotted.  So, lo and behold the peaches and cream streusel bread.

First of all, peaches, cream, streusel, bread.  What's not to like there?  Nothing, that's what.  Now let me tell you a little more.  The topping is crunchy and sweet and even spiced with some cardamom.  There are sliced peaches laid across the top, and lots of diced peaches inside the bread, along with sour cream to keep it moist for days, and cinnamon to spice it up a little.  Yes please.

Unfortunately,  I didn't even get a bite of this bread.  I made it for Mark to take to his classroom staff for one of their Tuesday morning meetings.  I had planned on stealing a piece by the time I had a free second to visit his room, and when I got there, every last crumb had been devoured.  It got rave reviews from his staff, so I will have to take their word for it. But maybe if you try this out, you can save me a bite :)

Recipe:

peaches and cream streusel bread

from Girl Versus Dough

Ingredients:

for streusel topping:

1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon cardamom

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter diced

for bread:

2/3 cup sour cream

6 tablespoons light brown sugar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup peeled and diced fresh peaches

1/4 cup peeled and sliced fresh peaches

Instructions:

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease the bottom and sides of an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan.

2) In a small bowl, combine rolled oat, brown sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon.  Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Place bowl in fridge while you prepare bread.

3) In a large bowl, whisk sour cream, brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and egg until smooth.  In a separate large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Add sour cream mixture to flour mixture; stir until just combined.  Fold in diced peaches.

4) Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.  Top with sliced peaches and streusel.  Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Tent loaf with foil halfway through baking if peaches are drying out too much or top is browning too quickly.

5) Cool bread 10 minutes in pan, then carefully remove from pan and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.