Peach season is in full swing now. I have been delighting in all the ways to develop cooked and no-cook peach dishes. Chilled peach soup, peach salads with arugula and burrata, and roast chicken with peach sauce are just a few.
It’s fun to select different peach varieties and taste them to decide on how best to use them in a dish. Some peaches have a distinct, acidy-sweet flavor, while others are pure fruit sugar flavor. There is nothing quite as delicious as eating a perfectly ripe peach over your kitchen sink with the juices dripping.
I recently developed this Seriously Simple quick bread that showcases fresh, ripe peaches. You’ll need to blanch the peaches to remove their skin. It’s easy:
- Immerse the peaches in a large pot of boiling water and move them around to blanch evenly.
- The skin will start to split. Depending upon how ripe they are this can take 30 seconds to a minute.
- Remove with a slotted spoon, let rest for a minute, and then peel off the skin.
You’ll notice that this bread has a double dose of peaches. Diced peaches are folded into the batter, and sliced peaches are arranged overlapping on top of the batter. The final touch is a sprinkling of cane or turbinado sugar for a crispy texture.
This loaf of peachy goodness can be served throughout the day. It’s wonderful for breakfast, sliced and served at room temperature. It’s also delicious toasted with a smear of unsalted butter. I like to serve this at teatime along with a cup of hot English tea or a glass of chilled iced tea. And, finally, it can be served as a dessert with a scoop of peach or vanilla ice cream. This will be gone before you know it.
