Hearty enough for a hangry man… or woman!

Buckwheat is not wheat –YAY! It’s a seed-based flour substitution that’s awesome for baking. It’s flour is grainer, darker, richly flavorful, and distinct.  You can swap buckwheat flour 1 – 1 for or mix up how you prefer!  The nutritional profile of buckwheat is excellent. For every 1 cup of flour there is approx. 402 calories, 15 grams of protein, 12 grams of fiber and 3.7 grams of fat. It’s a good source of vitamin B6, thiamin and niacin, and is rich in trace minerals such as magnesium, manganese, iron, phosphorus and folate. Here’s another article about it!

As you can tell, I am using buckwheat more and more because it’s healthy heartiness!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 3/4 cups buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup granulated monkfruit (I used Lakanto brand) – sub 1/4 cup of date paste or 1 Tablespoon of stevia if you prefer… or don’t add any sweetener at all and just add another 1/2 a banana!
• 1 Tablespoon Ceylon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of Himalayn pink salt
• 5 large very ripe bananas, mashed 2 cups (if you use date paste above, reduce by 1/2 banana here)
• 1/3 cup light flavored olive oil and/or walnut oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 1 small pasture raised farmers market egg or sub with chia “egg” and splash of apple cider vinegar

(alternate ingredients: 1 cup buckwheat, 1/4 cup each of coconut, tiger nut, and quinoa flours… reduce salt to 1/2 teaspoon and use 1 flax egg substitute with water and apple cider vinegar with a 1/2 teaspoon of whole chia seeds to absorb more liquid.  set aside 1/4 of batter to mix up with nuts and such and mix and press into top!  It’s so good this way!)

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the buckwheat flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt, mix well. Mash bananas, oil and vanilla paste, and stir together. Mix all ingredients…saving just a bit of dough for topping mix.

Chop up walnuts or GF oats or your topping of choice with bit of dough you set aside… put atop and mix in to surface area of bread batter you put in a parchment lined or lightly greased 9×5 loaf pan.

Bake on the middle rack for 50-60 minutes.  Test with toothpick or slender chopstick if you have plenty like I do in my kitchen.

Let cool about 15 minutes and yum it up!

OPTIONAL… mix in some blueberries or raspberries for a completely fun and vibrant taste profile. But I suggest gently pressing the whole frozen berry into batter from the but before adding nut topping so they keep their shape.  It makes an aesthetic difference once done baking.  Otherwise, you can end up with a fully colored loaf instead of spots of lovely color.  Oh…. And uh, chocolate, is a good idea, too! 🙂