Quick bread. I like the sound of that. Of course quick breads aren’t your traditional yeast breads but there are a bunch of great recipes out there for quick breads. Of course Banana Nut Bread is probably the most popular, which I would make one but I’m not big on bananas. I was reading one of my favorite magazines Bake from Scratch and they had a special issue simply called “Bread”. There are quick breads, Artisan breads, scones, rolls, and more. I was struck by the Strawberry Cucumber Bread recipe mainly because it sounded so weird. I knew I had to make it. The recipe is on their website so instead of writing it here on my blog, here is a link to the Strawberry Cucumber Bread recipe. It was really pretty easy to make.
The hardest part was grating the cucumbers and I just used regular organic cukes, but next time I think I’ll use the English cucumbers because of less seeds. Anyway, there are a few odd things on the recipe like clarified butter which I just used ghee and strawberry preserves that you have to cook with some cornstarch and lemon juice. I guess you do that to thicken up the preserves even more.
Mixing the batter was pretty straight forward, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and add the eggs one at a time. Then you gradually add the dry ingredients with the mixer on low until everything is just combined. Remember, keep the mixer on low or else you will be wearing some flour 
Now it’s time to stir in the strawberries, cucumbers, and walnuts. The put half of the batter into a prepared loaf pan and on top of the batter the strawberry preserve mixture goes. Put the remaining batter on top of that then put the remaining strawberries on the top.
Pop it in the oven. Baking time for me was about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The toothpick needs to come out clean. Let the pan cool for about 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan. I have to say that while the loaf was baking it did have an odd smell. Kind of like fresh cut grass, yeah that’s what it was. Don’t go cutting it until it’s completely cool or else things will fall apart. It seems that the strawberry preserves need time to stiffen up. I know that because… just take my word for it. You can wrap the loaf in plastic wrap and it will keep at room temperature for up to 1 week but I put mine in the fridge and it lasted a bit longer than that.
So how did it taste? I was blown away but the flavor. A little earthy because of the cucumbers but the flavor just grows on you. It was especially good after being in the fridge overnight. I definitely need to make this again. You won’t be sorry if you make it either!!