Rick Bayless is chef of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago, creator of Frontera gourmet foods, cookbook author and host of Mexico - One Plate at a Time.

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RICKMAIL - sign up for our email list From the Kitchen of Chef Rick Bayless

Recipes from Chef Rick Bayless

Guava Bread

 Makes 1  loaf

We adapted this recipe from Pilar's original recipe to adjust for the differences in both altitude and the size of her baking pan.  Here's the story behind this very special bread.

Days before the breakfast for Rick´s staff, I was planning the menu at Casa de los Sabores, the place where we bake the bread for the restaurant (La Olla) every morning, and we couldn’t figure out what type of bread to bake for that day. We picked the most popular (orange zest and flaxseed and banana).

We also decided that in order to take advantage of the home-grown guava that we found at the market we would bake a brand new type of bread, and so as I talked to Maribel, the girl who is in charge of baking the bread every morning, we started experimenting and finally developed the guava bread recipe. The flavor is very familiar to me, it reminds me of Christmas's Ponche and of the Day of the Dead´s special guava treat.  In the end, we weren’t sure how the guava bread would be received,  but to our sweet surprise, Rick´s staff loved it!

Ingredients

1 pound fresh ripe guava (Pilar uses small white flesh Mexican guava)
2  cups all purpose flour
1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2  teaspoons ground Mexican cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1  cup dark brown sugar
5 eggs, separated

 One 10 x 5 x 3 loaf pan, buttered

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack set in the middle. 

2.  In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. 

3.  Trim the top and bottom off the guava and cut in half.  Using a small spoon, scoop out  and discard the seeds.  Chop the flesh into a very small dice.  You should have about 1 1/2 cups of chopped guava.

4.  Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy.  Add the sugar and continue beating for several minutes until it becomes light and fluffy. One at a time, add the egg yolks, beating until each one is fully incorporated before adding the next.  Pour in the flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until the flour is just incorporated, being careful not to overmix.  Fold in the chopped guava by hand. 

5.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, glossy peaks.  Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter and mix until you no longer see the whites to lighten the batter.  Gently fold in the remaining whites.

6.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before slicing.

 

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