Vegan Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread Recipe

When the weather cools off, I love to bake bread, both with baker’s yeast and with a sourdough start, but nothing beats the instant gratification of a quickbread – there’s no rising, no kneading, just stir and cook. We like to make this cinnamon bread in the fall and winter for an easy, inexpensive dessert, but it tastes great for breakfast, too.

This recipe is vegan, and although I use whole wheat flour, just about any flour would work. I also heartily recommend using organically grown ingredients if possible.

Vegan Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread

• 1 & 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (if you eat honey, substitute it for the sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup quick oats
• 3/4 cup raisins, soaked in either 1/4 cup apple or orange juice
• 1 & 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil (or your choice of oil)
• 2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds, blended with 6 tablespoons of water (or use egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs)
• 1/4 cup almond, soy, or hempseed milk

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and mix the first seven ingredients together in a large bowl. Adjust cinnamon to your taste.

Add the applesauce, oil, flaxseed mixture, and soy milk to the dry ingredients and stir well, then mix in the raisins and juice.

Grease and flour a loaf pan – we like coconut oil. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove the bread from the pan and let cool.

I use this recipe as a rough template – it makes a great loaf on its own – but occasionally I add fun stuff I have on hand, like shredded coconut or other fall spices. You can also substitute dried blueberries or other dried fruit for the raisins, or bake them as muffins instead of a loaf.

This cinnamon raisin bread makes a most excellent toast!

Image: S. Diddy at Flickr