Quick Breads are Inexpensive, Easy to Make

I love quick breads.  Pumpkin bread, banana bread, zucchini bread, cranberry bread–you name it.   Quick breads are easy, quick (of course) and inexpensive to make, and universally loved by all family members.  It’s a versatile food too, good for snacks, brunch or even for dessert.   The challenge is finding a recipe that isn’t loaded with sugar.  Most quick breads are just too sweet for my taste plus the added sweeteners don’t do any favors for my waistline.  The recipe listed here is adapted from Mark Bittman favorite.  It’s incredibly flavorful, very light in texture and taste, and isn’t set-your-jaw-on-edge sweet.  It keeps well in the fridge (about one week) and can be frozen up to three months.   You can find oat flour in the health food section of your local market.

Banana Bread 

-1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

-½ cup oat flour (you can also use whole wheat but you will get a slightly denser bread)

-½ cup butter (1 stick) – melted

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

-½ cup honey

-2 eggs

-3-4 very ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350. 

Add melted butter, bananas, honey to blender and blend until smooth. 

Add eggs and mix thoroughly. (Set aside.)  

In large bowl combine all dry ingredients–flours, salt, baking powder - and stir well. 

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir gently, just until all ingredients are combined. 

Bake in a lightly greased loaf pan for one hour or until tester toothpick comes out clean.

(For a lower fat version instead of using ½ cup of butter use four TBSP. butter and ¼ cup of applesauce.  The loaf will be moister and more compact but still very tasty.)