Before I get into the details of my latest baking creation, let’s talk about ground flax meal.

Below is a jar of fresh ground flax seeds.

Here is a jar of Bob’s Red Mill ground flax seeds. Do you see the difference?? The color is completely different. You can SEE the freshness in the photo above and if you were here, you could smell it too. Once I eat down this 1/2 gallon jar [yes, 1/2 gallon!], I am never buying pre-ground again.

Eating whole flax seeds won’t do you nearly as much good as eating them ground. It’s hard for your body to digest the whole seeds, but when ground, it allows for enhanced nutrient absorption. These are unlike chia seeds, that are easily digested in their whole seed form.

The pre-ground, store bought, is definitely still a good option. However, be careful in the brand you choose, as a lot of times the healthy oils are dried out of the ground meal.

When making the “flax-egg,” the fresh ground makes a huge difference!!

This isn’t dripping off the spoon, it was stretching up from the bowl! It was so much tackier than the pre-ground, flax meal. I was amazed!! It was definitely much more egg-like, after sitting for 5min.

I decided to use whole grain spelt flour for this bread, after experiencing delicious success with my vanilla bean cinnamon banana bread.

When adding the wet to dry, keep the stirring to a minimum, or your vegan baked goods will come out flat + tough.

I used a 9x5 pan, that was greased + floured. If using an 8x4 pan, I’m not sure the inside will properly cook. If you don’t have a 9x5 pan, I might suggest baking it in an 8x8 pan and test it after 35min. *But that is just a guess!

A small explosion occurred! Nothing abnormal about this.

I love how beautifully it cracked!! The spelt flour gave this loaf an amazing thick and crispy crust.

The fudge-like interior was thanks to the bananas, brown rice syrup and 2 flax eggs. I don’t notice much of a taste difference between spelt + whole wheat flour. The texture was soft and it definitely was anything but dry. Definitely no signs of being a healthy loaf, except that it was just slightly sweet.

I ate the end piece immediately, which was awesome because there was so much crust! Then, I munched on another 1 1/2 pieces throughout the day.

Almond or peanut butter would be an amazing bread topper!

I thought I would throw in a handful of chopped walnuts as well, instead of adding a handful of chocolate chips. However, add what you want.

chocolate chips…walnuts…almonds…coconut… Any of those would be great!

Chocolate Banana Vegan Spelt Bread yields 1 9x5 loaf [adapted from my vanilla bean cinnamon banana bread]

2c whole grain spelt flour
2 large, very ripe, bananas
1/4c unsweetened applesauce
1/3c coconut oil, soft/melted [or creamy peanut butter or safflower oil]
6T almond milk [or soy or cow’s milk]
6T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4c brown rice syrup
1/3c sucanat
2 flax eggs [2T ground flax meal + 5T warm water]
1t vanilla
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/4t salt
1/2c chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350* and grease + flour a 9x5 loaf pan.
Whisk your flax meal + water together and let sit for at least 5min.
In a large bowl stir to combine flour, cocoa powder, sucanat, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium sized bowl mash bananas until egg-like.
Whisk in applesauce, softened coconut oil, almond milk, brown rice syrup, vanilla and flax eggs, until well combined.
Add wet to dry and stir until just combined.
Fold in walnuts, trying not to over-stir.
Pour into greased + floured pan, spread evenly and bake for about 1 hour. It’s a bit hard to tell when this loaf is done, because the inside is quite moist. Mine took about 1hr 5min. Use the toothpick test method and stick in the center. You don’t want it wet, but don’t wait until it’s completely dry on the toothpick.
Let cool completely before cutting, or you will have a mess.

A few notes…

This loaf has a crispy exterior and was a little hard to cut, especially when warm. Wait for it to fully cool before cutting and use a sharp bread knife. Pierce the slice first and then work the knife down to cut.
Remember this loaf is just slightly sweet!
If you use white or cane sugar instead of sucanat, decrease milk by 1T.
I would assume this would work with whole wheat pastry flour, but no guarantees.
If you don’t have brown rice syrup, maple/agave/honey should also work, but might change the consistency a little.
High altitude? [around 5,000’] – add 2T extra flour – 2T extra milk – and increase oven temp to 365*
This bread turned out much crustier than the vanilla bean loaf. The main differences were using 2 flax eggs [instead of 1], the type of oil, less baking soda, a little more banana, and a mix of brown rice syrup + sucanat. Both were good texture wise, just different from one another.