Whole Wheat Blueberry Bread (Sugar-free)

Update (April 17, 2010) and re-posting: this recipe was altered to use less oil and applesauce and I've added notes about how these changes affected the bread.

I've been trying to finish off the bag of frozen blueberries that we bought at Costco before we make our next trek there (at which point I will buy a new bag and start the process all over again). I also wanted to take my sugar-free whole wheat banana bread recipe and modify it for different fruits. What better place to start than with blueberries?

Since the basic components of the banana bread recipe like yogurt, oil, flour, and egg quantities, were sound, I mainly wanted to swap out the flavor components. That being said, bananas lend moisture and density to quick breads and blueberries do not. I decided to replace the bananas with unsweetened applesauce*. I also didn't include cinnamon or vanilla as flavorings because I didn't want to be able to taste the apple and I felt those seasonings would enhance it. I wanted the blueberries to shine through rather than for this to be an apple-berry mixture.

I don't mind being immodest and saying that this turned out fantastic. I sampled the batter and it was very "wheaty" (as raw batter can be with whole wheat flour), but very tasty. I was very keen to cut the bread and sample it right out of the oven, but waited for it to cool to just slightly warm first. I didn't want the structure to fall apart because I cut it while it was still too warm.

This is by far one of my best improvised recipes ever. One of my students made it with a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and hers turned out great as well.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Bread:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce*
• 1 medium egg
• 1/2 cup plain (unsweetened) yogurt
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tbsp. Canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
  
• 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat bread flour)
  
• 1 cup granular Splenda (or just use 1/2 cup of white or brown sugar)
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups frozen (unsweetened) blueberries

Mix the egg, yogurt, applesauce, Splenda (or sugar), salt, and oil in a large bowl. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and mix well. Add the whole wheat flour and stir until just moistened. Allow to rest 10-30 minutes. While the flour is resting, grease and flour a loaf pan and preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. (350 degrees F.). Stir in the baking powder until well incorporated, but do not overmix. You don't want to overwork the gluten in the flour as it will make the bread tough. Gently fold in the frozen blueberries. Pour into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Note that I used a glass pan which takes longer to heat up so my cooking time (1 hour) may be longer than that needed for a metal pan.

*Unsweetened Applesauce:

You can make your own unsweetened applesauce easily in the microwave oven. Peel and core two medium apples (green or red is okay, but green apples are softer and cook faster) or one very large apple. Cut the apple roughly into bite-size pieces. Put the apple pieces into a microwave-safe dish with a lid and add about a quarter cup of water. Microwave on high power (600 W.) for between 3-6 minutes. After three minutes, check with a fork to see if they are tender and add more cooking time as necessary. The timing it takes depends on the type of apples you use. Drain the water from the cooked apple and place in a food processor with a small bowl or use your blender. Puree, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Two medium apples yielded 1.25 cups of applesauce for me.

The calories for the whole loaf are about 1220.

Notes after modifications: I reduced the applesauce and oil because the bread was so moist before. This moistness wasn't bad at all. That being said, it did tend to keep the bread from rising as well as it might and cause it to sink down further after cooling. Cutting the applesauce to 3/4 cup and the oil to 1 tbsp. had no negative impact at all, and in fact made a more "quick-bread-like" result. I think it's pretty much as close to being perfect as possible (not that it was bad at all before!).

by Shari (Orchid64)

"Less Bad" Banana Bread

I thought of several names for this in order to try and shorten the name. One possibility was "healthy" banana bread, but it's got artificial sweetener in it. Another possibility was "low(er) calorie banana bread", but that doesn't really fit either. I don't think any baked good can really be low in calories because flour is rather calorie-dense. I also really wanted to get something in the title about "whole wheat", but gave up because adding that would have made this "Whole Wheat, Low-Fat, Sugar-free, Banana Bread." I settled for "less bad" because it's a completely useless name and I think throwing your hands up in futility should be reflected in the title.

At any rate, I wanted to make a quick bread that wasn't over 200 calories per slice and I found a recipe which looked ripe for modifying. The original recipe is here on myrecipes.com. The original called for flaxseed, which I don't have and is very high in calories. I used an egg to make up for the loss of flax. The original used a half and half white and whole wheat flour mixture which I converted to all whole wheat. I also didn't see the point in using baking soda and used only baking powder. I substituted granular Splenda for the sugar and omitted the nuts because I don't like nuts in quick breads. One of the good things about quick breads is that the ones which use fruit or vegetables in them have enough moisture that you can usually get away with sugar substitutes without a big hit to texture. Finally, I added vanilla and cinnamon to boost the flavors.

Here's the recipe I used:

• 3 small to medium bananas (mine were on the smaller side)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup plain (unsweetened) yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup Canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup granular Splenda (or just use sugar)
• 1/2-1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Put the bananas in a small bowl food processor and puree them to goo (or mash them well with a fork). Add the egg, oil, yogurt, and vanilla to the banana and process until well-mixed (or whisk into the mashed banana). Pour the wet ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir in the Splenda, salt, and cinnamon until thoroughly mixed. Sift the whole wheat flour into the bowl then gently push the flour around until most of it is moistened. Withhold the baking powder. You are not mixing it at this stage but just getting the flour to sit and soak up moisture. Allow this mixture to sit for between 15-30 minutes then add the baking powder and stir until it is mixed in. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C. (340 degrees F., or 350 if your oven doesn't have such increments).

Pour the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Note that I used a glass baking dish and mine took 55 minutes. Using glass may have made the baking time longer. If you use metal, I'd recommend checking at the 45-minute mark.

This turned out very flavorful and had a good texture, though obviously it wasn't as fine as one would get from white flour. I think I didn't do the best job of mixing in the baking powder for fear of overworking the gluten in the whole wheat flour. Next time, I think I'll be a little bolder about how I mix it. Still, I was very pleased at how this turned out and I'd make it again without modification. That being said, I may have used more baking powder than necessary, but I have a vat of it from Costco and am not exactly in need of conserving it and the flavor didn't affect the banana bread.

This was fine plain, but really shined when toasted (like a normal piece of bread) and spread with butter or margarine.

Note that the entire loaf is about 1500 calories. This is rather substantially less than normal for a quick bread.

by Shari (Orchid64)