Cantaloupe Bread

I never would have thought of using cantaloupe or any type of melon in bread.  Thank goodness I have genius friends though who share these kinds of tips with me.  My pal Briony at Freeze Your Way Fit had this cantaloupe bread at her son's birthday party in April and I practically hoarded them all before any guests could eat them.  They are really good!  They smell so wonderful while they're baking too, just heavenly! 

I took Briony's recipe and modified it.  I used less oil than she did, adding in applesauce.  I doubled the amount of cantaloupe she used too.  :-)   In addition, I omitted the salt, adjusted the baking powder and used ground cloves instead of ginger.  I also didn't have her clean-eating recommended sucanat or honey.  So I used plain old brown sugar.    The end result was very tasty and still low in calories and fat!  My co-workers enjoyed this and my family did too. 

If you come across a great deal on cantaloupes, you can puree them, freeze them and save it for a day when you feel like making this bread.  I highly recommend it!   Here's the recipe....




Cantaloupe Bread

(Makes 1 loaf or 8 mini loaves)

Adapted from Briony at Freeze Your Way Fit

2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup of applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 and 1/2 cups of pureed cantaloupe (or half a cantaloupe; 1 cantaloupe = About 4 cups of puree)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur's White Whole Wheat)




1 large cantaloupe = Just over 4 cups of puree: Enough to make two loaves of bread!  :-)


Preheat oven to 350 degress.  Generously grease a 9x5 bread loaf pan OR a mini bread loaf pan (like I used) with cooking spray. 

In a large mixing bowl, place the beaten eggs, oil, applesauce and pureed cantaloupe.  Now add in the remaining ingredients in the order which they are listed above.  Stir well with a large spoon until all mix is combined.  Pour or spoon out into the greased pan.  Bake in the loaf pan for 1 hour OR bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the mini loaf pan. 



Now see if you can resist pulling it out of the oven early because it smells so dang good!!  Let bread cool before slicing and serving.  I spread some apple butter onto mine.  So yummy!  Enjoy! 

What's the weirdest thing you've put in bread?  I need to come up with some new breads to make and I'm an adventurous cook, as you may know!