Quick Bread Mix

All recipes need some altering to suit an individuals taste. A recipe is a base. I am a prof. baker who took Helen's recipe and made it mine with a few changes. You must know your oven and if repeatedly burning a recipe does'nt know their oven! All are different. Change the temp. and heat distr., turn the fan on to distr. the heat around, change pans. I found this recipe so simple and convenient and made money selling them at cafes around. You have to know what makes a muffin moist. Always add some fruit or veg. like banana, carrot, zucchini, and an extra egg. This ensures moist muffins, which I found this recipe worked best for. You need to start with a high temp (200 C) and then lower after 7 minutes to 175c. This is imp. for getting a peak in the center and also aids in allowing the center to cook. The lowering heat will ensure it doesn't burn. This is just advice that I aquired from lots of research and trial and error. It takes practice to be a master with baking. As much experience as I have I have also blundered. I've gone back after a few years to a recipe I had no success with and had excellent results because I have more knowledge of kitchen science. Good luck, and thanks Helen for a great recipe.

Recipe was great, except it appears to be missing 1 cup of MILK! Batter was like wallpaper paste until I added the milk with the eggs and oil. Baked up perfect and was quick, easy and cheap compared to prepakaged mixes or starting from scratch.

This is a GREAT recipe. I have made banana bread and pear pecan bread. I too had to add some milk but the amount was dependent on how moist the add-ins were. I used a mixture of pears, brown sugar and nuts. I mixed them together and then pureed the mixture before adding to the dry ingredients. I did not have to add any milk to this batch but I did have to add some to the banana bread. Also, my kids have made chocolate chip muffins. This recipe is definitely going into my recipe collection.

Without trying to sound boastfull I'm a really good cook and baker; but this was the worst thing I've ever baked and tried to eat. I will never make this again!! As my three kids put it YUCK!!

I recently made this mix to give for Christmas gifts to coworkers. I packaged up one batch for each person with two muffins - one batch made with pumpkin and pecans and one batch made with bananas and walnuts. It was a big hit. My son, husband and I also enjoyed the rest of the muffins. Thanks for a great recipe.

This is a wonderful time-saver. I substituted fresh ground whole wheat, reduced the oil and added more vegetable or fruit. I also added a scoop of soy powder for more protein. It is delicious and easy and nutritious.

I only wanted one loaf of bread, so I had to do the division to break down this recipe. But it's good to know the bulk measurements too. The bread was great!

My family, along with everyone else who has tried the loaves from this recipe love it. I like it because I have stocked up on muffins and loaves for preschool and work lunches.

This makes a really soft and wonderful loaf of bread. I made it yesterday and it is gone. I, too, had to add milk to the recipe but I only needed 1/2 cup. This recipe is definitely a "keeper"!

This is just what I was looking for, I make alot of muffins and this was great to have on hand.

I make alot of breads for gifts at the holidays and this one will save alot of time. I tried it for Blueberry muffins too and they were great, almost cake-like. And like the others, I added some milk to the mixture before adding it to the quick bread mix, as I knew that it would be too thick. These will be the easiest breads that I'll have made.

Very quick easy bread. One of the better tasting breads I made in a while. I threw in some left over ingredients (pumpkin, walnuts and cranberry) I had and it turned out wonderful.I also topped it off with the 6 flavor sugar glaze found on this site and my family loved it. The bread was good with or without the glaze. I doubt I'll use any other bread recipes again.

I really like this recipe. I love having all of my dry ingredients combined and ready to go. I used 3 cups of this mix 3 eggs 1/4 cup oil 1 cup applesauce 2 cups shredded apples (about 4-5 small apples) and sprinkled in some cinnamon This batter made 2 loaves of a bread that came out sweet, moist and delicious. I'll definitely make it again. I may add a little brown sugar next time (not that it needed it)

WOW - I'm just starting to learn to make bread and this was WONDERFUL. Moist and flavorful and I just about ate the entire loaf myself! I used about 1 & 1/2 Cups of Sarah's applesause (from this web-site) - 1 as the recipe called for and then the extra 1/2 Cup in place of the oil as some others suggested. That may have been too much because it took FOREVER to bake all the way through (maybe I'll make mini-loaves next time), but my-oh-my so worth the effort of making your own applesause (which I loved and really isn't much effort at all) and making your own applesause bread (which isn't much effort at all either). I will be making this recipe over and over and over again, just mixing up which flavor I use. Can't wait to try banana and carrot! If I had more than 2 thumbs, they'd all be raised!

I've tried this with many variations, and it is just delicious! On a side note, it works well in a bread machine as well!! Great, thanks!!

MMMMMM...this is now my go to recipe. I halved the reciipe and made 2 loaves last night. I followed the recipe and added 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water then sprinkled sugar on top before putting it in the oven. I didnt add anything else to it- no fruit or anything- and it was delish!! They didnt last long! I just made the rest of the mix but this time i grated some carrots, added some cinnamon and ground cloves and just used water and used muffin tins and again they are soooo good. I know im going to have to go make some more. Thank you for the great recipe!

I love this recipe! I always keep it on hand, but I've found if I add one of those pre-made cups of applesauce to it, or puree a banana and put in the mix when I go to bake it, it comes out much more moist.

This is the best! Thank you for sharing. I've never baked a bread successfully - this one was PERFECT! Added a tin of crushed pineapple (was all that I had in the cupboard). It turned out brilliantly. Hubby took a few slices to work & shared it with some of his work mates. As a result I've got a few orders to fill this weekend. And we have a winner!

This recipe rocks. Honestly, I just winged it.... had some leftover crushed pineapple, threw it in with the mix and VOILA! I'm so excited, because I hate wasting food, and I routinely throw away icky bananas because I don't want to bother putting together a recipe of banana bread. Now it will be a cinch. (sp?) Go with your gut on how much liquid to add; I didn't add any milk because the juice that came along with the crushed pineapple seemed to be enough. Can't wait to experiment with unique quick breads! Thanks so much!!!!

I was looking for nothing in particular when i found this recipe. I needed to have multiple loaves of bread when I found it and figured why not? So far I have made the standard banana, zucchini, and pumpkin. And am looking forward to trying apples and what ever else I can dream up. I read all of the reviews and knew that I had to add my own. I haven't had to add any additional liquids and the batter mixes up very nicely. And when complete, it almost falls out of the pan. BRAVO!! This is a definite keeper.

Yummy bread

I think those who are having trouble with the moisture may not be using vegetable puree, perhaps. I used carrots (cooked and then blended) for the veggie, and added to the mixture a few grapes that were thinking of becoming wine, which made up for the dryness of the dried cranberries also used in my muffins. I would have made bread, but found I did not have the correct size pans. I will try various versions of this one. Since it has white sugar, I do not think it would be suitable for savory muffins, however; I stopped short of trying savory. Good save! (I imagine.) 2nd day note: The muffins (now room temp) seem a bit oily. I think a little less oil would make for a lighter, but still moist muffin.

As some other reviewers have said, this does need up to a cup of additional liquid to work right (milk, water, applesauce, etc). Unless the original submitter is using fruit/vegetable JUICE, I don't see how they could possibly get workable dough without adding more liquid than this calls for. However, once that's added in, it's a great recipe. I'd give it 4-5 if not for that omission. My husband said it was a bit salty for him, so I might scale that back when I make this again, but it's definitely a keeper.

Horrible! Do not bother with trying to figure out what they they did. Try a different recipe.

I scaled down the recipe since there were so many mixed reviews. I added about 3/4 to 1 cup of milk a little at a time till I got the right consitancy and it came out perfect. One of the best banana breads I've ever made. It was light, moist and flavorful. This is a great base recipe and I will definately make again.

VERY dry, the amount on this recipe are way off.

I make this and keep it for making muffins adding whatever fruit, chips, nuts, etc. that i feel like having at the time. I did use half wheat flour and splenda blend for sugar. Husband and grandkids can't even tell the difference.

I give it 5 stars for the mix itself. I have been using this mix recipe to make muffins for years, however I do not use Helen's actual bread recipe though. Also I did cut down the salt to 3 teaspoons, I have experimented and here are some of my favorites. Zucchini muffins In mixing bowl whisk together 2 eggs,1/2 cup water or milk, 1/4 cup veg or canola oil, 2 teaspoon vanilla,1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, then with a wooden soon stir in 3 cups of mix, then stir in 2 cups grated zucchini, then stir in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans and 1/2 cup mini choc chips. place in sprayed 12 count muffin tin,they will be very full, bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 22 to 26 minutes depending on your oven, you can make them smaller just adjust the cooking time. For pumpkin muffins just replace the zucchini with 1 cup of canned cooked pumpkin(not pumpkin pie filling) For chocolate chip use 3/4 cup of water or milk and 3/4 cup choc chips and 3/4 c of chopped nuts in place of fruit or vegetable. I find the the liquid amount to add will vary with the type of fruit used. I have also made the mix with 8 cups all purpose flour and 4 cups of wheat flour. Hope these work out for you :)

The recipe was crumbly. I added a cup of apples and it was way too dry so I had to add more liquid. It might work better with something like pumpkin or bananas.

I haven't made this - just wanted to thank Helen for the basic mix, it was exactly what I was looking for.

I didn't have any fruit or nuts or such. All I added was Green Herbs (dried herbs) mixture of: Parsley, Cilantro, Thyme, & Celery Leaves. It was a really neat the flavor was refreshing.

This is a very good and economic way to save money and have a good homemade quick bread. When I first started making the mix only, I got frustrated because it is very difficult to get 12 cups of flour, and 6 cups of sugar, along with evrything else, into a large enough container to hold, let alone mix together. Trial and error, next time I will be prepared for the amounts with a container large enough. But aside from being covered with flour, I took my 3 cups aside and proceeded with making my bread. I added 1 cup of milk, used butter shortening instead of oil, 2tsp of vanilla flavorings, and 1 4oz cup of applesauce with my bananas and eggs. The bread turned out great!!!! It didnt even stay long after it cooled. I did use a 9 inch pan, and baked for about 50 minutes. So It only gets 4 stars because of the difficult prep mix time!

I absolutely love this bread mix. I lost the recipe for 6 months or so and have just found it again. I make it with pureed squash and pumpkin pie spice. Fabulous!

I didn't care for this.

This tasted like cornbread. I didn't really like it.

This base mix is great! I put tomatoes and cheese into the mix for dinner muffins and for that mixture was a little sweet. But with bananas and chocolate chips the next morning it was perfect!

I might be wrong but if you look at the bakers % for this recipe there is only 9% liquid to 100% dry product. Most Quick bread recipes have at least 80% liquid. There might be something missing, but i had to add more eggs, oil, and not in the recipe i added sour cream, and buttermilk.

I had my students try this recipe, but to dry, we tried milk and somewhat better but still an issue with the recipe, I don't recommend this recipe to anyone.

very good and quick recipe...

i followed the directions exactly, i always do. the bread didnt cook in the middle but the outside burned. when this happened i went back over the recipe i didnt miss a step. my oven cooks everything else fine, so i tried it again. same thing happened. i wont try it again. very dissapointing since its hard to find bread recipies w/o using a machine.

Loved this recipe!! Great to use when you want to clean out your pantry! I've made a carrot bread and a lemon/orange/strawberry/rhubarb bread. Allows you to get really creative.

Like many others who have tried this recipe, I'm not sure what went wrong. I used nuts applesauce, cinnamon and nutmeg--and the bread turned out bland! I can't give this as a Christmas gift!

I enjoyed this recipe. I wanted something easy to make using the ingredients I had onhand. I used whole wheat flour and Splenda and I added diced apples as my fruit. I made it in muffin tins, which was really quick. I will make this again. (I had never used diced apples in a bread before and it was excellent.)

This bread mix was very delicious when baked and eaten directly out of the oven but turned dry very quickly. I'll have to follow some of the others advice on how to moisten it up.

Great idea! I substituted 4 cups of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of oat flour instead of all white flour. I used applesauce and orange juice concentrate for the fruit and cinnamon. It was delicious. Next time I will try almond extract.

I made this bread for the second time and it burned extremely bad. the first time I just added liquid and it turned out great so I don't know what happened

My favorite

I love this recipe. My favorite add ins are 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1 cup applesauce. I call it Apple pie bread.

This is a great base recipe. The key is to make sure the cup of fruit or veggies that you add is a puree. I made a batch using one cup of sweet potato and orange juice puree, using just enough oj to get it to blend. Added a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, too. My boys said they were the best ever. A second batch was made using pureed zuchinni and oj. Added a dash of cinnamon and a handful of chocolate chips. Again, awesome.

I added 1 cup applesauce and 1 1/2 tsp Apple Pie Spices. I sprayed the whole muffin pan - cups and top. I filled the batter to the top of the cups and the muffins spread out over the top of the pan a little and made 10 large muffins. Absolutely yummy!