Quick bread (as opposed to
yeast bread)
is leavened bread made without
yeast; usually a
chemical
leavening is used instead, such as
baking soda or
baking powder,
or perhaps mechanical leavening such as whipped egg whites is possible
(but they usually call that
cake).
I suppose it's "quick" because you don't have to wait for the yeast to rise.
Baking can start immediately after mixing is complete. In fact,
most chemical leavenings such as baking soda begin rising as soon as it is
mixed, so you should definitely start baking it immediately.
(Double acting baking powder only reacts completely with heat,
so this is less critical.)
They may also be "quick" because the recipes are often simpler and easier
(and thus quicker) than a typical yeast bread. Some bakers call
these "dump and pour" recipes because you can pretty much just dump all
the ingredients into a bowl, mix slightly, and pour it into a baking pan and shove
in the oven.
(Note: thorough mixing is important; alternate adding flour and liquid
when using thick or slippery ingredients like banana mush. However, too much mixing of wet flour will form gluten and make the bread tough, which is good for yeast bread, but not so good
for quick bread and muffins.)
Almost all muffin and biscuit recipes are quickbreads. Quickbreads bake well in muffin tins, loaf pans, and even cans.
Bisquick typically is used as a quickbread.
The biggest advantage of quick breads is that you can include
lots of fruit, which would mess up the gluten in a yeast bread.
Traditional quick bread recipes often include fruit
such as bananas, dates,
blueberries,
apples, pumpkins, raisins,
and of course, all sorts of nuts (usually chopped)
and more sugar than typically found in other breads.
There are even recipes here vague enough you can
pick your own fruit.
I'll not include a recipe here, as there already plenty noded
elsewhere. Just explore the hard links and soft links in this node.