Easy Whole Wheat Banana Bread

If one more frozen black banana falls out of my freezer and onto my husband's foot, it might be grounds for major marital discord. It's homemade banana bread to the rescue.

Not only have I been trying to use up some ripe bananas, I've also been experimenting with whole wheat. I have this new favorite cookbook, King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains. I have rechecked it out twice from our local library and, quite frankly, I don't want to return it. Anyway, it inspired me to try my hand at more whole grain baking, so I've adapted a friend's banana bread recipe using fresh ground whole wheat flour in place of the white flour and gelatin as a substitute for the eggs. Now, my friend sent the following directions with a list of the recipe ingredients:

"Bake 350 for an hour (until it is pretty brown on top). I bake it in a glass loaf pan and if it's not pretty brown on top, the inside is gooey which with banana bread isn't a good thing. I add (dark) chocolate chips and nuts for extra numminess!"

Since there were no directions about how to mix the ingredients, I just dumped everything into my mixing bowl and let 'er rip. That's how I came up with the name....

Easy Whole Wheat Banana Bread
(yield two loaves)

6 very ripe bananas
1 cup butter
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 "eggs"** (or 4 eggs)
2 tsp baking soda
dash of salt
1-2 cups of mix-ins (such as nuts or chocolate chips)

**NOTE: I dissolved 4 tsp of gelatin into 12 TB of water--I did not add additional boiling water to the "egg" recipe substitution because I thought it would make the batter too runny.

Add all of the ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed until blended. Divide the batter evenly among two greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for about an hour (give or take). You may wish to tent the bread with a piece of foil if the loaves begin to brown too fast.

These loaves were rising nicely in the oven but fell after sitting on the counter for several minutes. However, they were tasty and made from whole grains! A perfect after-school or between meals snack.

Easy Peach Loaves

An abundance of peaches and a few alterations to the original recipe resulted in...

Easy Peach Loaves

2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal (I used quick cooking oats)
1 TB cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 c oil
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups diced, chopped or pureed peaches

Heat the oven to 400 degrees and grease two loaf pans. Combine the dry ingredients and set aside. In another bowl combine the oil and eggs. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Add the peaches and stir by hand. (I pureed my peaches, but I missed the big chunks that would have been in the bread.) Divide the batter evenly among the two pans and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks after about five minutes.

Blueberry Oat Bread

Blueberry Oat Bread

This recipe is based on one that appears in my KitchenAid recipe booklet. I made a few very minor adjustments, though. Enjoy!

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice
3/4 c milk
1/2 c butter, melted
1 TB grated orange peel (optional)
2 eggs
1 1/4 blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9X5X3 in. bread pan (bottom only). Combine the dry ingredients and add all but the blueberries to the bowl. Mix just until ingredients are combined, then add the blueberries, stirring very gently with a spoon. Empty the batter into the greased pan and bake for 55-65 minutes. When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the bread is done. Allow it to rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then on a wire rack to completely cool.