Sometimes we just don’t have the time to make bread with yeast. Hence the term quickbreads. These breads result in a more dense loaf, but are ready to eat within the hour instead of later the same day. Often eaten for breakfast or a snack, quickbreads can have a lot of sugar in them, but here is a recipe that uses whole wheat flour and oats with dried herbs and cheese to make a scrumptious dinner loaf. Serve slices of it with a hearty soup and salad for a filling and delicious meal.
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (NOT instant oats)
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter or margarine
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 egg
**1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp flax seeds, sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds
Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Use a medium bowl to combine whole wheat and all-purpose flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, herbs and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until your dough has many small pieces the size of large peas. Stir in the shredded Swiss cheese.
If you don’t have buttermilk at home, place 2 tbsp of buttermilk in the bottom of a measuring cup and add enough milk to make one cup. Stir and let it sit for five minutes.
In a separate small bowl, whisk buttermilk together with egg. Add this to the dry ingredients, stirring with a fork to make the dough. Do not overstir or your bread will be tough. Use a spatula to scrape the dough into a lightly greased 8 inch round cake pan (I grease mine with butter then scatter a pinch of large grain cornmeal over it). Once the batter is in the pan sprinkle the top with flax seeds, sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds. Bake at 400 for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Serve warm with a little butter. Delicious!
This recipe makes 8 to 10 servings with about 260 calories per wedge. It has 10 grams of protein [er serving, 10 grams of fat, 33 grams of carbs and 2.5 grams of fiber.
If you prefer to use fresh herbs, use at least 1 tablespoon of each. Substitute rosemary and garlic or onion bits for a different flavor.