Pecan-Cherry Loaf

With a quart of buttermilk in the fridge from my most recent homemade butter outing, I wanted to do some baking.  A simple sweet bread, bursting with dried cherries and nuts, seemed a good candidate.  Pop a loaf in the freezer for your next Sunday brunch; it's great toasted too.

Pecan-Cherry Loaf
makes two-three loaves

3½ c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp cinammon
2 eggs
1½ c brown sugar
1 c buttermilk*
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts
1 c dried cherries

*I used fresh buttermilk, which is actually quite thin (consistency similar to skim, or non-fat milk).  If you are using regular buttermilk you may need to adjust the quantity, using more to get a thick batter consistency.

1.  Preheat oven to 325°F.  Grease two 4x8 loaf pans or one 5x9 pan (you may have too much batter - so have a mini loaf pan on hand just in case: breakfast for one!)

2.  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinammon; set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add sugar and beat until combined.

I love the deep gorgeous yellow of the duck eggs!

4.  Alternating with buttermilk, add flour to egg mixture and stir until just combined.  Stir in nuts and cherries.

5.  Bake about 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in bread comes out clean. 

6.  Set on a rack to cool; but not too cool - let a pat of butter melt on top of that first slice.