Banana-Chocolate Chip Protein Bread

Adapted from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Café
Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus 50 minutes to bake
Yield: 10 to 12 servings (1 standard-size loaf)
I like to slice this bread and freeze the slices (wrapped together in a sealed plastic bag), which I can then defrost and lightly toast individually, as needed.

  • Freeze individual slices, wrapped airtight in a heavy plastic bag and then defrost as needed. Toasting is optional.
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup soy protein powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups mashed ripe banana
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (optional)
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. (325°F for a glass pan). Lightly spray a standard-size loaf pan with nonstick spray.
  2. Place the flour, protein powder, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a medium-sized bowl, and stir until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  3. In a second bowl combine the mashed banana, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter (if desired), and stir with a whisk or a fork until uniform.
  4. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir from the bottom of the bowl until everything is thoroughly blended. The batter will be stiff.
  5. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, patting it into place with a dinner knife, and shaping it so that it is gently mounded in the center. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 minutes (for a "damper," more pudding-like bread) to 1 hour (for a drier result). Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then rap the pan sharply to remove the bread, and cool the bread on a rack for at least another 20 minutes before slicing.

the Biscotti Treatment
This bread is very dense and moist–almost like a sliceable pudding. If you prefer it drier, bake it for the full hour. You can also take is one step further with what I call the Biscotti Treatment: After it cools, cut it into 3/4-inch slices, and bake the slices on an nonstick spray-coated baking tray at 350¡F for about 15 minutes. Cool the re-baked slices on a rack. The result is like a slice of soft cookie-cake. It's very nice.

Using Soy Protein Powder
Fluffy, beige, and somewhat sweet, soy protein powder is 80 to 90 per cent pure soy isolate, packing in about 25 grams of soy protein (and sometimes some calcium) per ounce. (Note that this is not the same thing as soy flour, which is made from ground soy beans.) . Unless otherwise specified, you can use soy protein powder in place of up to half the flour in all these muffin recipes. The result is delicious, yet slightly more crumbly and denser in texture. Look for soy protein powder in the bulk bins at natural food stores.
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