Me too. This recipe is for a quickbread from my book. It’s one of those recipes that sort of sneaked up on me, and weaseled its way into my culinary lexicon– one that I find myself baking time and again. Maybe its because it’s dead simple, or perhaps it’s because I usually have all of the ingredients in my pantry, or maybe it’s because it is just delicious!

VermontGrahamBread1This bread is made with Graham flour– a flour that was new to me. I was familiar with Graham crackers (adorned with peanut butter– sign me up!), but I had never baked with the flour. Graham flour is one of those old-fashioned, regional New England flours from the 19th century. Created by Sylvester Graham, a preacher and one of the countries first health nuts, this flour is similar to whole wheat, but it grinds the entire wheat berry at coarser levels. The result is a rich, nutty, and slightly sweet flour.

This recipe hales from Vermont and uses a bit of pure maple syrup. With just a hint of brown sugar, and raisins– for added sweetness and chewiness, it’s dark and sustaining. This is a humble bread, but once released from the pan, and set to cool on a rack, I find myself returning to the kitchen and slicing off piece after thin piece and slathering it with salted butter. It’s one of those simple yet superb recipes, and a very good reason to turn on the oven!