Sun-Dried Tomato and Mozzarella No-Knead Bread

As someone who spent time in a professional kitchen as a pastry chef, I'll never understand why shortcuts in the kitchen are looked down upon with such disdain. Especially baking, which can be time-consuming and messy. Don't believe anyone who tries to convince you that pie dough from scratch only takes a little longer than the store-bought dough; that's an outright lie. Grocery store bakeries have come a long way, and I feel absolutely no remorse about picking up an assortment from Wegman's versus dealing with the cleanup in my kitchen. Homemade pasta? Never again; not worth the flour mushroom-cloud, believe me.

Quickbreads are great b/c they're from scratch but without the time and cleanup that other baking projects require. This dough comes together in about 15 minutes and the no-fuss ingredients do something magical in the oven. I had serious doubts about this bread, but when I checked on it after 40 minutes, was surprised to see a golden, domed loaf that looked almost artisanal, instead of the flat, hard loaf I was envisioning.

Using the sun-dried tomato pesto was a flash of inspiration I had while hemming and hawing over which sun-dried tomatoes to choose. I saw this jar of pesto sitting a few shelves over and realized this was much easier than cutting up tomatoes. Let's do ourselves a favor and destigmatize kitchen shortcuts for the new decade.         

Sun-Dried Tomato and Mozzarella Bread 
adapted from here 

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon oregano 

1/2 teaspoon thyme 

1 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1/4 cup vegetable/canola oil

1 cup grated cheese (I used mozzarella)

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes pesto

Instructions 

-Preheat oven to 350F. Spray loaf pan w/ nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

-Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oregano and thyme in a medium mixing bowl. 

-In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the egg and oil. Add the pesto and stir smooth. 

-Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until all the flour has been incorporated; be careful not to over-mix. Add the cheese and mix combined.

-Pour batter into loaf pan; bake for 45-50 minutes, until a knife/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  

-Let the loaf cool before removing from pan and slicing. Wrap baked loaves in plastic wrap and store at room temperature.