One night not too long ago as I was contemplating dinner, I realized that I had no bread. Bread with dinner is nearly a must in our household – probably a holdover from when I was a kid and mom always had a loaf to go along with dinner (with luck, a crusty Italian one from Alesci’s). Even the freezer was bare. Luckily I remembered a quick and delicious recipe for oat quickbread and within 15 minutes, a batch was baking in the oven. I messed with the original recipe, of course, and now can’t remember from which cookbook the recipe came. I replaced whole oats with slightly ground oats (it’s a texture thing), used whole wheat flour for white, veganized and de-sugared.
Oat Quickbread with Sunflower Seeds and Flax
Serves 8
2 cups quick-cooking oats (or lightly grind regular oats)
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. flaxseed meal
2 cups soy milk
4 oz. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Preheat oven to 450F and lightly oil a loaf pan – or use an oversized pie plate as I did. (It looks prettier, I think, and bakes faster.)
In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the soy milk and applesauce. Stir this mixture into the oat mixture and add the sunflower seeds. Stir just enough to make sure there are no dry spots.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-45 minutes (depending on which type of pan you use). Bottom of loaf should sound hollow when tapped. Let cool a bit before cutting and serving.
(I think this would also be tasty with the addition of dried cranberries and/or toasted walnuts. Add a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup if you like a sweeter bread.)
That is a super speedy recipe! Isn’t it nice when quickbreads don’t have animal ingredients added (like eggs) that you have to cook the heck out of to make them “safe” to eat?
That’s one of the best things about cooking vegan. And no mad cow worries…
This recipe looks great! I’ve been making cornbread about once a week to satisfy the need for some sort of heavier component to our vegetable based meals on nights we don’t have time to wait for rice or another grain to cook up. This will add some nice variety! Thanks!
It has great flavor and is so easy! I love cornbread, too!
My you are brilliant and inventive! Love the ground oats vs. whole – I often make out flour too, it’s that easy! This looks awesome!
Thanks, Shira! Sometimes those big flakes are just too obvious, but a little oat texture is perfect.
I am SO excited to see this. I often realize that a loaf of bread would round things out… at about 5 pm…. Many thanks from the planning impaired.
Yes, exactly! Planning ahead isn’t always an option…
What great texture in the bread. Looks good.
It does have a very nice, hearty chew. I’m thinking chili…
I like the idea of adding cranberries. Maybe some orange zest too and make it a morning/snack bread. Sounds delicious. Thank goodness for your quick thinking to save dinner!
Right on – orange zest would be fantastic!
That looks like the kind of delicious bread I’d like to drop into soup. Yum!
It does seem like a good Lorna bread
!
What a great idea! Since my artisan bread in 5 minutes discovery, we are hardly ever without bread, but there have been plenty of nights where the main meal seems a bit forlorn, this would sub in nicely!
I love that book!! I want to try every recipe. The other one, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes/Day, is wonderful, too.
I bought both. I can’t stop myself. My hubby still can’t get over his white flour obsession (although he did go plant based for me, so I worship the ground he walks on) and I make him those loaves. I do the whole wheat variety – still experimenting and tweaking it so that I can make it look as beautiful as the white loaves…. Not super successful, but super tasty!
I love how few ingredients there are!
I know – might be the best part
!
That first pic is amazing! I want the bread and that orange-colored jam! It seems pretty versatile- good for dinner, good with coffee the next morning.
Exactly – with some dried fruit in there – perfect for breakfast.
I love a good quick bread, especially when it is as quick as yours
Looks delicious, especially with a dollop of marmalade!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
This looks like such a quick delicious bread recipe. I love baking. I might have to make this tomorrow after a quick grocery run. I don’t usually have applesauce in the house. I wonder how it’d be with just mashed banana instead. I am all about bananas. I put them in everything.
I’d give it a go! Would lend a nice flavor to the bread. Let me know if you try it!
I love making quick breads in pie plates- you’re right they feel so much more special! This one looks great- I love that you added some texture in with the oats- definitely makes bread more interesting in my opinion, and more wholesome! What kind of jam is that in the picture? Looks tasty
It’s mango chutney! I’m addicted – and the evening I took this picture, we had an Indian-inspired dish.
I love this simple recipe, I’ve got to try this at home.
Your breads always look delightful. The mention of sunflower seeds brought a question to mind that I thought maybe you’d have an answer to–have you ever tried sunflower seed spread? I saw it for the first time with all of the natural peanut butters at the store the other day and was instantly curious. First on my list, though, will be the new Earth Balance coconut spread. So many peanut butter alternatives, so little time!
I’ve seen it, too – but have never tried it! Dive in! I just picked up a wee packet of raw walnut butter. Mmmm, right? Haven’t tried it yet. Coconut spread?? No one told me!
Check it out: http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/product/creamy-coconut-peanut-spread/ I didn’t purchase it…yet. Oh, but I will.
I have to eat my way through a few half full jars of other spreads first!
Okay. Yeah. The woman lurching forward with the giant spoon? Me.
Ha! I know it! So, since a major ingredient is coconut oil, does that mean it’s off limits for you? Because if so, what a shame, but I think I can take one for the team and eat for two.
You are a trooper! I limit added oils, but I haven’t banished them entirely. That would take discipline I don’t have!
Gotta love the combo of being fast and tasting good. I’m going to try it with buckwheat flour and see it that works!
Buckwheat would be great – let me know if you try it!
I love that it’s mango chutney topping the bread… I’m addicted to the stuff – actually anything Indian inspired. Lime pickle rocks my world
Oh, lime pickle?? Sounds like something I would adore/devour!
Is flaxseed meal just ground flax?
Yes!
This looks awesome! Can’t believe how creative you are! Drooling… (can you tell I haven’t eaten bread for days….)
No bread would be so hard! I did that once for two days (thats all I could take) and nearly collapsed from the jitters. A stupid Atkins diet moment…
You never cease to amaze me. Your food is wonderful! I keep sending it to my sis and bro in law who is very sick with cancer right now. This is so helpful! Thanks so much. I’ve also sent to many friends.
What a divine & tasty quick bread! I love it so much!
Almond milk or the like would work instead of soy, right?
You bet!
[...] are mouth-watering, and I couldn’t wait to try one of her recipes. I had my eye on her Oat Quickbread with Sunflower Seeds and Flax, because I felt like this was easy enough for me (boosting my confidence in not creating a kitchen [...]
I tried this with Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free baking flour instead of whole wheat and it was AWESOME! Thank you.
Yay!