by Caroline

This time of year, I start baking even more than usual  and Eli doesn’t want to eat anything but another quick bread, be it apple, pear, banana or pumpkin. So I get him to bake with me, which he is happy to do, wielding his whisk with great care. I also try to adjust the recipes a bit to make them more nutritious; he thinks he can live on bread alone, and with this and some milk or yogurt on the side… Well, I still want him to eat green vegetables. But this is pretty good.

I started with a recipe from Gourmet magazine which hasn’t turned up on line yet; I cut the sugar, replaced the white flour with whole wheat, and replaced some of the oil with ground flaxseed. It’s light and delicious.

2 c whole wheat flour

6 T ground flax

3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t ground allspice

1/4 t ground cloves

1/4 t ground ginger

1/4 t salt

2 large eggs

1/3 c water or milk

1 c brown sugar

1 c pumpkin puree

3 oz vegetable oil

1 t vanilla extract

1 c chopped toasted walnuts (optional; I leave them out because the kids don’t like them)

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 9 x 5 inch baking pan with parchment.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl, then whisk together the remaining ingredients in a second bowl. Add the wet to the dry and whisk until blended and smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 45 minutes, until the bread is firm to the touch and a tester inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Baked goods with flax in them tend to brown pretty quickly, so if your bread is getting  dark and the loaf isn’t cooked through yet, just cover it lightly with foil and continue baking.