Whole Wheat Fig & Walnut Quick Bread

If you’re looking for an easy way to bring a little more fun to your morning meal but still maintain some semblance of health, I think you can stop your search now. This Whole Wheat Fig & Walnut Quick Bread pretty much fits the bill in all categories! It’s sweet but not overly so, hearty but not heavy and with just the right ration of chewy figs and crunchy walnuts to tender crumb, it makes waking up a whole lot happier!

And while it’s full of all kind of stuff that’s good for you, it doesn’t have that “I’m eating health food” taste. Part of that is because we’re using white whole wheat flour, which has a lighter, milder taste than the regular whole wheat version but still gives you the same nutritional value. If you’ve never cooked with it before, you should really give it a try!

The true beauty part of this bread is that as it says in the title, it truly is quick (though it does have to bake for about an hour, but we’ll forget about that part, lol!)—mostly just stirring and folding and no mixer necessary. If you’re a new or not very experienced baker, I promise you’ll be able to pull this one off with huge success!!

It’s also extremely versatile. I made this using yogurt and molasses, but you could also use whole milk mixed with a little vinegar and honey instead.

Same goes for the add-ins. Here we’re using walnuts and dried figs (gotta love their funny old-man shriveled up look) but you could sub in any fruit and nut combo you prefer or have on hand.

The bread is great just as is—

Or slathered with butter, which of course, somewhat defeats the health purposes, but hey, we’ve got to live a little too, right?!!

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Whole Wheat Fig & Walnut Quick Bread

Makes one 9x5-inch loaf

Prep Time: 15 minutes; Bake Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients

• Softened butter for greasing pan

• 2 ½ cups white whole wheat flour

• ½ cup cornmeal

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 ⅔ cups whole milk yogurt or 1 ½ cups whole milk mixed with 2 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar

• ½ cup molasses

• 1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

• 1 cup coarsely chopped figs

The Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with softened butter and set aside. If you’re using milk instead of yogurt, mix it with the vinegar and set aside now.

2. Place the flour, cornmeal, salt and baking soda in a large bowl and whisk together well.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt (or milk mixture) and molasses. Add to the flour mixture in 3 additions, using a rubber spatula to fold, scraping the bottom of the pan to make sure all ingredients are getting incorporated. Try not to overmix or loaf will turn out dense. Gently fold in walnuts and figs and scrape into prepared pan. Gently smooth the top.

4. Bake for about 1 hour. Use a tester inserted into the center. If it comes out clean, it’s ready. Otherwise, give it another 10 minutes and try again.

5. Let bread cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes and then turn out and allow to cool completely on the rack. If you can wrap well once it has fully cooled and let it sit overnight. The flavors will intensify. Otherwise, let cool then slice and serve.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from Food52 Baking. Feel free to use any combo of fruit and nuts you prefer or have on hand.