Wholesome Goodness

Today it was time to bake bread - well the easy, quick variety. Over time I've devised a good and healthy whole wheat banana blueberry bread that I try to keep on hand. Whenever I have ripe bananas, I mash them and then measure and freeze the puree for baking time.

I call this Bread 2.5, because that is how much of just about everything goes into this bread. And it makes 2.5 loaves. AND it’s 2.5 times better for you than other muffins and scones - this bread is very low in fat and sugar and is packed with nutrients.

It changes nearly every time I make it. Once I left out the eggs completely (by accident) and it was delicious – dense and moist. So if you have anyone in your family with egg allergies (Hi, Bob!) you can omit the eggs. OTOH, if you wish to boost the protein content, you can use all 4. Today I used 2 eggs' worth of Egg Beaters.

Bread 2.5

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
2 ½ cups white flour
1/3 cup white whole wheat flour (King Arthur)
¾ tsp baking soda
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 ½ cups mashed banana
1 ¼ cup brown sugar (I use half dark brown and half light brown)
½ cup oil
2 ½ cups plain nonfat yogurt or buttermilk
0 – 4 eggs (or equivalent in egg substitute)
2 ½ cups of ground nuts (toasted is nice) and whole oats mixed (I used 1 cup walnuts, 1 cup pecan meal, 1/2 cup oats), no more than half oats
2 ½ cups fresh or frozen wild blueberries

{update: I've added a few ingredients that make this bread even more wonderful: about 1 tsp lemon juice to the wet ingredients, and some cinnamon and nutmeg to the dry - just around a teaspoon or less of each}

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients in bowl (flours, soda, powder and salt)

2. Mix banana, sugar, oil, yogurt and eggs in a very large bowl


3. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture in three stages, stirring to incorporate.

4. Stir in nut mixture

5. Stir in blueberries

6. Pour batter into 2 full size and one half size loaf pans.


7. Bake at 325 for 55 minutes or until done.



Slice and enjoy! It's really delicious toasted.