This started out as a Weight Watchers recipe and came to me via joythebaker.com. I added walnuts and the barley flour. The recipe was originally called "Low Fat Banana Bread" but I'm guessing the addition of walnuts negates that. But I think its fair to call it heart healthy. It is less rich tasting than your usual banana bread, but not in a bad way.
I think one of the tricks to banana bread is to use nearly black bananas. I usually let them go days beyond ripe, then I peel them and store them in a zipper bag in the freezer. They're good for smoothies too!
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Sustagrain high fiber barley flour (available from King Arthur or just use more reg. flour)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp canola oil
1 large egg, beaten
2 medium egg whites
3 large bananas, ripe
1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients including the oats and cinnamon.
Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once they are fragrant, move them to a cutting board and chop roughly (or do as I do and simply break them into good bite sized pieces with your fingers while they are toasting).
In a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. Add oil and whole egg and mix thoroughly.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Batter will be fairly thick.
In a medium sized bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites until medium stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter in three additions.
Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes. Slice loaf into 10 equally sized slices.
