Whole Wheat Banana Blueberry Bread

Someone had an adventure with AP flour the other day, which resulted in a sofa covered in gummy, sticky, flour paste.  Pretty clearly this someone was not human.  (The bonus of having five animals is that you can blame pretty much any household disaster on a four legged monster).

The backstory involves the SPCA, as basically all of my backstories do.  After fostering a puppy mill rescue back in January and seeing how much Darwin loved having a friend, Dan and I bit the bullet.  In return for tolerating the cats smacking him (Hunter), sleeping on him (Boo), and blatantly stealing his food (Sam), Darwin needed a dog friend.  So we packed him in the car, drove him to multiple shelters and pounds, let him play with a dozen or so dogs, and chose Molly.  For Darwin and Molly it was love at first sight.  They were licking each others faces, play bowing, and chasing within ten minutes of meeting one another.

Unfortunately, there is a downside to puppy love.  Like when you put up a babygate without checking to make sure both dogs are on the same side.  As it turns out, Molly was heartbroken to be separated from Darwin and did what any love sick girl does: she binged on carbs.  In particular, she got into the 35 pound bag of AP flour and spent the day nomming it into a paste, then rubbing her face on my sofa.  And while I was scrubbing my sofa clean, she went back for more, appeared with a face COVERED in flour, then ran for the bed when I tried to wipe her off.  I think she made her point.  Never separate puppies in love.  Also, hound dogs hate being alone.  

Needless to say when I got the urge to make banana blueberry bread there was no AP flour to be found.  After scouring my cabinet for whole wheat pastry flour and then the internet for a recipe using whole wheat pastry flour, I found this recipe on A Dash of Sass.  I had my doubts about baking with whole wheat flour but this bread was delicious.  Substituting whole wheat flour for AP and honey for sugar also means I can pretend this is healthy!

 

Whole Wheat Banana Blueberry Bread

 1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas (I used two bananas)
1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
2/3 cup wild blueberries (I used closer to a full cup)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk oil and honey together in a large bowl, then add the two eggs and whisk for about 90 seconds, or until fully combined.

Add the vanilla and mashed bananas.  Mix flour and salt together in a bowl, then add to the oil, eggs, and banana mixture.

In a small cup or bowl, heat the water and add the baking soda.  Allow to dissolve, then mix fully with the banana mixture.  I left out the walnuts, but if you want to use some, this would be the time to add them.

The recipe then tells you to mix in the blueberries.  I mixed them in the bowl, then added them to the pan and they mostly sank to the bottom.  Dan advised that it would be better to pour the batter into the pan, then gently and quickly mix the blueberries in.  I used fresh, you can use frozen, but the color may bleed a little bit.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, then allow to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.  (You probably want to allow more like 30 or 40 minutes to cool).

This bread is excellent warm with a little butter, or you could spread all natural PB or almond butter for a yummy breakfast.