Loaf

Okay, so I'm going to try to update about once a week, and I've been trying to think of a couple more recipes to start trying out over the next little while. Before I completely forget though I'm going to post my loaf recipe.

I often talk about loaf when I call home, and every time my mom says to me 'what is loaf?' Well I guess you could call it banana loaf, but bananas barely even make an appearance (and half the time don't even make their way in at all). Another name would be vegan loaf I guess. So here goes...

• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/4 cup-1/2 cup of sugar (not always necessary, although it does moisten the loaf)
• 1/2 cup of water or soymilk

Those are the basic ingredients that make up the base of the loaf, now the flavors can be anything you want... For example:

• Moist fruit: a couple mashed up bananas/pureed pumpkin/apple sauce/grated carrot- frankly it can be anything that adds a decent amount of moisture, and a good rule of thumb can be 2:1 flour to fruit
• 1/4-1/2 cup of berries (I use whatever is in the freezer) or dried fruit (something I tend to avoid because I'm allergic to cranberries and raisins)
• a handful of chopped nuts- your call
• Flax seed*, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds etc
• Vanilla
• Spices- Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg etc
• 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter

Now that you have your ingredients assembled:

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl combine your sugar and your moist fruit (and peanut butter or vanilla if using).
2. Next, in another bowl (or just on top of your first mixture) combine flour, baking powder and soda, nuts, seeds, spices, and frozen/dried fruit.
   
3. Using a wooden spoon, mix until just combined. It should look rather dry, so now you add you water/soymilk to moisten up mixture.
4. Give your loaf pan a good spray with pam, then dump that hearty loaf in and toss 'er into the oven for mm let's say 1 hour.
5. Check with a skewer inserted in the center, should come out clean, then using a knife, go around the edges of the pan to loosen the loaf, and dump it out and let it cool. Ta-da! Loaf!

*Just a quick side note, I put the star next to flax seed above, flax seed mush be ground before being added. Reason being the seeds are not easily digested in their whole form. I use either a coffee grinder or my magic bullet to grind them up, or they can be purchased already ground!

To store loaf, wait until completely cooled, then wrap in plastic wrap or in an air tight container. It can also be frozen, just double wrap it. To thaw it out, throw it in the microwave or set it out overnight.

Well that's about it for now!
Loaf,

Stacy