A hearty quick bread packed full of fruits and nuts and other healthy ingredients. Make as a quick bread or make as muffins. For two medium sized loaves, use two 8.5 x 4.5 bread pans.
"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Spray 2 medium or 4 small bread pans with cooking spray.
Combine all of the dry ingredients into one large bowl. Whisk to combine.
In a smaller bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the wet ingredients (banana, yogurt, egg).
In a small bowl, combine the dried fruit and nuts. Toss together to distribute.
Make a hole in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix together. Once thoroughly mixed, fold in the fruit and nuts.
Divide the batter between the two bread pans.
Bake at 350°F for 35 - 45 minutes* or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of a loaf. Set on a rack for 10 minutes to cool, before removing from the pans.
Flours - If you don't have both whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry, then substitute one for another and use either 1 cup whole wheat or 1 cup whole wheat pastry. The pastry flour takes a little weight out of the bread.
Powder Flax Seed - The original recipe calls for bran, so your choice.
Yogurt - It doesn't matter what yogurt you use. I've used whole milk yogurt, plain and vanilla and a mix of the two. So use what you have.
Size of bread pans - Because of the weight of this bread, I recommend making either two medium sized loaves, 4 small loaves and 18 small muffins. If you tried to make one large loaf, it probably would sink in the middle and not rise.
Bake time - If you live below 5000 feet in elevation, test for doneness after 35 - 40 minutes. I live a mile high so it takes 45 minutes to cook these breads through.
Dates - Dates are a real pain to chop, so to make this process somewhat painless, I use 1 - 2 tablespoons of the AP flour and sprinkle it on the cutting board and over the dates, then start chopping. As I chop, I sprinkle a little more to the cut dates. This method keeps them from sticking so much to each other and the knife. Add any remaining flour back into the batter.
Date Substitute - The last time I made this I didn't have dates, so I substitute 1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup dried pineapple. It was excellent. This might become a permanent substitution.
Dried Cherries - If you cherries are old and dried up, rehydrate them in a little water before adding to the bread. Drain and discard the water. Do NOT chop the cherries! Leave them whole for the best taste experience.
Freezing - This freezes very well. What I do is cut a loaf into 1 inch slices, wrap with plastic wrap, bag the wrapped slices in a freezer bag, and freeze. When I want a piece for our afternoon tea, I'll remove one slice, let it thaw or defrost in the microwave, cut in half and serve.
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen