Ginger Oats Bread with Fruits & Nuts - "Winter Warmer Bread"

Long overdue, but finally here is the first recipe for one of the photo's in my initial post - the Ginger Oats Bread with Fruits and Nuts. 

Inspired by the cozy winter clouds, I had this sudden craving for dark brown, ginger and raisin bread. So I rummaged through some of my recipe books, googled a bit and found a couple of recipes that matched my criteria - a combination of an Applesauce Spice Cake recipe and Ginger and Banana cake from a book on my shelf called "Fat-Free Vegetarian". Of course, since these use normal flour and sugar, I used them as a basic guideline for the amounts and adjusted it as I went along, substituting oats flour for normal, and adding just about what else I felt like in the moment. 

Side note: This recipe is great for variations and can easily be substituted with other fruit / nuts / whatever you might feel like! I've indicated the "base" ingredients in the recipe - feel free to experiment and try your own combinations! It's not too fussy - I've managed to throw it together in about 15min in between errands and it still came out fine. It's even easier if you keep some oats flour handy for "emergency" baking occasions.

I mix some flax seed meal with the oats flour, both for protein and to help the mixture "bind" a little better. For some reason though, the brand I have at the moment sometimes has funny crystal bits inbetween, so I add it with the oats in the food processor to grind it all up nice and fine.

Basic Dry Ingredients:

500 ml oats

60 ml flax seed meal

5 ml cinnamon

10 ml ginger

2.5ml mixed spice

2.5ml nutmeg

pinch cloves

30 ml xylitol / other sugar alternative (to taste)

5 ml salt

10 ml baking powder (was worried oats might not raise enough)

Optional:

45 - 60 ml uncut oats

125ml walnuts, chopped

125ml raisins (or little more)

125ml own cinnamon apple mixture 

You can also swap out any of the spices with whatever you feel like

3 large eggs 
5 ml vanilla

15 ml molasses (optional - for dark colour and flavour. You can use honey instead)

125ml oil

125ml water / juice mixture / apple sauce

 I didn't have apple sauce, so I just did the following:

-> Slice a couple of apples and cook them with a little bit of hot water, honey and cinnamon until soft (I just pop the in the microwave)

-> Use 125ml of this mixture with the liquid mixture, and add the rest of the cooked apples to the dry ingredients 

Line a bread pan with baking paper - this makes things a whole lot easier (and less crumbs to wash off) once the oats bread is baked.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Put the oats and flax meal in a food processor and grind until fine (you can also buy ready-made oats meal, but I find this way is much cheaper).

Add the spices, salt, and baking powder.

Pour out into a bowl and stir in optional ingredients (any seeds / nuts / fruit you want to use you can add here).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and molasses.
Add the molasses / honey, oil and water / apple sauce and mix through.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir through with a spoon until just combined - don't overmix!
Pour into the prepared tin and sprinkle over some whole oats or seeds.
Bake at 180C for 40 - 45 min until the top is browned and springs back when you touch it.
Let it cool for 10min in the pan before turning out.
Enjoy as is, warm from the oven, or with your choice of nut butter and a drizzle of honey...

Since this is all oats, it makes a great breakfast! I combine it with nut butter for a protein boost and can say it gives me that needed early-morning kick. You can also make these in a muffin pan as separate "breakfast muffins" - a great breakfast on the run!

Some other variations to try:
Strawberry and coconut cream (substitute the oil with 125ml coconut cream)
"Carrot cake" - grated carrot, grated apple, pecan / walnuts
Banana bread




What combinations work for you?