So the current joke at our house is whether or not something is “Blogworthy” (for those of you of a certain age, you might recall Elaine of the TV show “Seinfeld” using the term “Spongeworthy”). It started out innocently enough, when I announced on a Friday that I intended to cook something “Blogworthy” over the weekend. So when my husband ate his yogurt, he asked if it was “Blogworthy.” When he poured a glass of ginger ale, he asked if it was “Blogworthy.” And so on. That didn’t last long, FORTUNATELY, but now it’s our little joke about whether a dish or a meal is merely ordinary or something extraordinary and worth sharing with others (he is very supportive of my blogging and he’s even getting a little more patient about the picture taking).

So at our little beach cottage, my husband has planted a few old-fashioned fruit-bearing bushes that begin to bear fruit right about NOW. We have Gooseberries, Currants (both red and black), and a Service Berry (my Mom calls it Sarvis Berry — both are correct). These are nice to eat out of hand but what he REALLY loves is a not-too-sweet bread chock-full of the fruits of his labor. So he tasked me to make him some Blogworthy Bread with our current crop of Service Berries.

This recipe is the same basic recipe I’ve posted recently, but I took more of a dump approach with the ingredients — it’s a VERY forgiving recipe. My husband ate at least half of this bread over the course of two days. Me and a couple of friends had some with some leftover home-made strawberry rhubarb ice cream. We all pronounced this bread BLOGWORTHY.

Service Berry Breakfast Bread

2 cups Service Berries (aka Sarvis Berries)
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare an 11 x 7 x 2 inches baking pan by spraying liberally with baking spray.

Rinse your berries and pick over for stems, leaves, and small bugs. Drain well. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of the flour over the berries and gently shake them around to coat lightly.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the butter, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and buttermilk until well combined. Dump in the dry ingredients and mix by hand until incorporated. I started with the whisk and ended with a rubber spatula.

Gently fold in the berries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the loaf at 375F for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan and cook another 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (or with only a few crumbs).

Allow to cool to warm before cutting — this is a VERY moist bread and if you cut into it too soon, it will be gummy. Store tightly covered at room temperature, not that it’s going to last very long!

*****

You could substitute fresh blueberries for the service berries.