Orange Peel Bread

Yum. Here's the deal. I got a bunch of oranges to make marmalade, but then lost momentum cause I have a bunch in the pantry already. Plus all that white sugar isn't so hot for you. So I went looking for other uses. Somewhere I once read a recipe for chocolate cake where a whole orange is blended up as part of the batter. And getting familiar with marmalade and candied citrus peel I knew that citrus is worth more to us than just as fleshy fruit and/or juice. Plus, the whole Tartine zucchini marmalade bread phase I went through last summer. I ended up using it in a quick bread, tried it both with blended peels and chunky as-is peels, both were good. I based my recipe on this, which cites an old Fanny Farmer recipe, used it for proportions, didn't follow it too closely [Honey + peels instead of white sugar marmalade is way healthier, plus whole wheat for white, and buttermilk/b. soda in stead of milk/b. powder]. Essentially the fermented peels become soft and you are using them as you would bananas or applesauce or whatever to provide moisture and a little bulk, and flavor, of course, to a baked good.

Orange Peel Bread
inspired by the Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham

2c orange peels prepared as if you were going to make marmalade
2c buttermilk
1/2 c or so honey
1/2 c or so raisins
1T oil
1 egg (optional)
pinch salt
4c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
bunch of sesame seeds

Slice up a whole bunch of orange peels and cover with water. Let them ferment for a day or so. Heat to a simmer. Let them sit for a day. Heat. You can keep doing this for a week, no problem, until you have time to make marmalade and/or bread.

375 oven
Either use the peels as they are, or stickblended, or a mixture of the two, it all works.
Add the rest of the wet ingredients. The egg doesn't matter, the last few times I made it we were out of eggs, it still works fine.
The baking soda reacts pretty vigorously with the buttermilk, so once it is mixed in get it in the oven quick.
I've been making this in a 9x13 pyrex with sesame seeds coating the bottom so it doesn't stick. I like that technique alot. Rolled oats work well, too.
about 40 min does the trick.