Banana ‘Wholesome’ Bread

Banana bread is one of my favorites. I altered the traditional recipe to accommodate healthier ingredients – some of my favorites like milled flax seeds, cranberries, millets or lightly toasted oats. Also to keep it very natural, I opted for cardamom to replace vanilla extract. The outcome - a dairy free, eggless version, that is simple, easy to make and healthy. This is one of our favorite weekday breakfasts and it pairs very well with regular coffee or milk (soy and regular).

Ingredients

1 cup organic Whole Wheat flour

½ cup organic Oats (regular and lightly toasted)

1 ½ cups ripe organic Bananas, mashed

1 ½ cups organic Soy or Rice milk

3 tablespoons organic Flax seed, milled

1-2 teaspoons green Cardamom, finely powdered

1 ½ teaspoons Baking powder

½ teaspoon Baking soda

½ teaspoon Salt

Light cooking spray

Method

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Sieve together wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. To this add flax seed, half the quantity of oats, cardamom powder and mix well.

Add in soymilk slowly to the dry mixture. Stir well till a thick batter forms.

Add the mashed bananas to this batter and slowly mix to evenly combine all ingredients.

Pour the batter into the previously prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining half of the oats on top of the batter.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

This bread can be refrigerated for up to 3-4 days. However, microwave the slices of this bread for 15-20 seconds before consuming /serving. It’s advisable to refrigerate the cake as room temperature can cause it to go awry due to the natural ingredients used.

This recipe goes out to JFI- Whole grains hosted by Suganya .