Athlete fruit bread

Athlete fruit bread

This is a handy bread for using as part of a snack or meal balanced with either more protein or fats to aid either preparation for or recovery from short or longer endurance sessions.

For example speaking all things recovery, a longer bike ride or run will allow for a decent slice of this yummy bread as an add-on to a proper meal of protein with some healthy fats (e.g. omelette with avocado and veggies) or a shorter 60-90 minutes spin / approximately 1 hour run will allow a whey protein or vegan protein shake and a slice of this bread covered with almond nut butter.

A slice of this with some nut butter and for example a scrambled egg or some slices of meat will make a handy pre-training snack. Or simply enjoy this bread alone with some hazelnut butter or coconut butter as a mid-morning or afternoon snack.

Talking flours:

I normally use gluten-free self-raising flour as everything in this house is baked 100% gluten-free; but I had an “error” purchase a few months ago of non-gluten free Doves farm self-raising flour (warning they look the same!) and so this one was created for my hard training ironman boyfriend. It got the thumbs up. I personally would slather this with some nut butter or real Irish butter but eaten alone this bread is also perfect.

Ingredients for Athlete fruit bread:

The ingredient quantities are a tad on the guesstimate side as I flung this all together and it worked better than expected; use your better judgement when preparing this bread. This is a very flexible recipe; I am thinking of adding a banana the next time and using less dried fruits and depending on how I feel using cinnamon or vanilla extract to spice it up. Dates, pecans, mashed figs, and even grated carrot may also add in well. So long as the consistency is that of bread going into the oven you should be fine!

• 1 cup ground flax seeds (I mill my own from whole flax seeds in the Nutri-Bullet as this is more cost-effective and the seeds are fresher this way thus maintaining a somewhat higher alpha linolenic acid content – sadly some of which will be lost in the oven)
• 1 ½ cup oats/ gluten-free oats
• 1 cup self-raising flour (or gluten-free)
• ½ to 1 cup of dried mixed vine fruit (more or less depending on how fruity you like it)
• ½ orange juiced
• 1 teaspoon approximately of orange zest
• 1 teaspoon or more ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon mixed ground spice
• 1 to 2 teaspoons coconut sugar or brown/ Demerara sugar
• Water to desired “bread” consistency
• 1 large free range organic hen or duck egg
  

Instructions:

Mix all of your dry ingredients with the orange juice, zest, dried fruit, sugar and spices. Then beat in the egg and water to the consistency of bread.

Press into a bread loaf tin that has been lined on the bottom with greaseproof paper and oiled with some butter or coconut butter. Bake at approximately 180-200° C for approximately 45-60 minutes depending on how long it takes for a knife to come out slightly moist when piercing the bread loaf.

Remove from the tin, allow to cool and enjoy!!