Posted October 9, 2010
Quick breads are popular for a fast breakfast, a satisfying snack or even as a dessert. But many quick breads have copious amounts of butter or oil, contributing large amounts of fat and saturated fat.
Today’s recipe for pumpkin bread contains less oil and substitutes pumpkin puree and ground flaxseed for some of the usual fat.
Pumpkin has a lot to bring to the table. A half cup of canned pumpkin has 40 calories, no cholesterol, virtually no fat, 10 percent of the recommended daily intake for iron and enormous amounts of vitamin A. Its delicate flavor combines well with fall spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
Pumpkin also adds moistness to baked goods, making it a natural in muffins and quick bread. In baked goods, fat usually adds moistness. If you cut back on fat, you can end up with a drier, less desirable product. Replace some of the fat with pumpkin or other fruit puree, and get a lot of the moisture back without the fat – plus additional nutrients.
Ground flaxseed also helps keep this bread moist. The directions call for mixing the flaxseed with water for a short period before adding it to the batter. This hydrates the flaxseed, making the fiber it contains swell and become sticky and gummy. This added viscosity traps fluid in the mixture, adding moisture.
Additionally, this rather gluey substance functions a lot like eggs, helping bind ingredients together. Vegans, who don’t consume any animal foods, often use this trick when they adapt recipes that contain eggs.
One tablespoon of flaxseed mixed with three tablespoons of water can be used to replace one egg in many baked good recipes. Flaxseed also adds important omega-3 fatty acids and fiber.
The odd ingredient in today’s pumpkin bread is honey beer. This is not a soft drink, like root beer . It’s a little sweeter than regular beer. If you don’t have honey beer, you can use the same amount of regular beer. Just add 2 tablespoons of honey when you add the beer to the batter .
If you would rather bake this in a bundt pan instead of two loaf pans, there is enough batter to do so. If you do, check for doneness after baking about 45 to 50 minutes.
This bread is very moist and flavorful, so try to resist the temptation to eat a lot of it. It contains 194 calories per modest slice. Three or four slices, and you will be racking up more calories than you likely want. But do enjoy a slice, perhaps with a cup of hot tea or coffee, while sitting outside watching the leaves fall.
Megan Murphy is a Tennessee-licensed registered dietitian and associate professor of nutrition at Southwest Tennessee Community College. Call 277-3062, fax 529-2787, e-mail Meganmyrd@aol.com.
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Pumpkin-Honey Beer Quick Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
cup water
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup honey beer (at room temperature)
cup egg substitute
2 large eggs
1 (15-oz.) can pumpkin
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, salt and next four ingredients (through pumpkin pie spice) in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk.
Combine 1/2 cup water and flaxseed in a bowl and set aside.
Place sugar and next 4 ingredients (through eggs) in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until well blended. Add flaxseed mixture and pumpkin; beat at low speed just until blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until combined. Divide batter between 2 (9- x 5-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; carefully remove from pans and cool complete on wire rack.
Makes 2 loaves, 14 slices per loaf.
Per slice: 194 calories, 6.5 gm fat, 1 gm saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 31 gm carbohydrates, 1 gm fiber, 3 gm protein, 287 mg sodium.
– Source: Cooking Light magazine, November 2008.