Updated Raisin Quick Bread
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Quick breads may be a rather old fashioned treat but it’s a treat I still enjoy. One of my favorite recipes is my grandmother’s classic raisin brown bread (I even used to bake the bread in tin cans like my grandmothers always did). But even the old classics can be updated if needed and I now have these tweaks I can use if I want to make this old favorite in a new way that has no eggs and no oil.
My Easy & Healthy Quick Bread Changes
My old-fashioned recipe begins by soaking the raisins. I soak my raisins for about 15 minutes (even though the original recipe had you soak them overnight!)
I’ve also eliminated the egg in this recipe and use my method of substituting flax seed for an egg. So the way I now begin this recipe is to get those two components soaking (the raisins and the flax seed egg replacement).
While those are soaking, I stir together the dry ingredients. Rather than all purpose flour, I try to now always use the white whole wheat flour. And yes, there’s still sugar in this recipe but I now replace half of the white sugar with brown sugar and I’ve had good results. (If I want to make a no-sugar treat I make my homemade Larabar Bites, or my Healthy Snack Bites). Finally, there’s some walnuts in this recipe too which I chop up a little more if needed.
And then I just mix everything together. The dry ingredients and the flax seed egg get dumped into the bowl of raisins and their soaking water, and I usually stir the nuts in last.
My Old Fashioned Loaf Pans
Although I’m not using tin cans anymore to bake this recipe, I do have a couple of older pans that I love and use all the time. They’re smaller sized loaf pans that used to be my mother-in-law’s and they are the perfect size for dividing a recipe like this into two loaves. But whenever I look for this size loaf pan in the store I have no luck. One of the closest I’ve found are these loaf pans that are 7.75″ x 3.75″ which is almost the same size as I have.
Of course this recipe can also be made as one loaf in a standard 9″ size loaf pan, or divided into four mini loaf pans.
I’ve always enjoyed quick breads as a mid-afternoon treat or as a bedtime snack and I like that they’re not as sweet as things like cookies or cakes. Most of the time I just call this recipe “my brown bread”. Maybe it’s old fashioned but for me, a little piece of fruit, a little piece of bread, and a cup of hot tea is a snack that always satisfies.
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Updated Raisin Quick Bread
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups raisins
- 1½ cups very hot water
- 1 flax egg replacement (1 Tbl ground flax seed + 2½ Tbl water)
- 2 cups flour (I prefer white whole wheat flour)
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the raisins in a large mixing bowl. Add the hot water and set aside to let the raisins soak for 10 or 15 minutes.
- Combine the 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed and the 2-1/2 tablespoons of water in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, sugars, baking soda, and salt.
- Then combine everything by adding the dry ingredients and the flax seed egg replacement to the raisins and water, and stirring until all the ingredients are moistened together.
- Finally, stir in the nuts.
- Pour the batter into lightly greased loaf pan(s). If using one 9" loaf pan bake for approximately 50 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean. If using two medium loaf pans, or four mini loaf pans, bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
If you wanted to use an egg, would you just use 1 egg?
Yes, you would just use one egg if you did not want to use the flax egg replacement option.
Could you provide the nutritional information for the updated quick
raisin bread?
I ran my recipe through a nutrition calculator, and here are the results. I assumed a full size loaf cut into 12 slices for a serving size.