Strawberry Wholemeal Bread Loaf

Strawberry season is so exciting! Trays of ripe and beautiful strawberries in various shades of bright red can be found everywhere in open-air markets, green groceries and supermarkets. The fresh and sweet fragrance hits you in the face as you walk past them.
I've had this recipe for a while and I finally had the chance to test it out. It is such an easy-to-follow recipe it only took me 15 minutes of preparation time before it was ready for the oven.
The cake loaf does not rise much and is quite filling. I have more than halved the amount of sugar from the original recipe and found the sweetness is just right. The lightness and the freshness of the strawberries really stand out and help balance out the sugar.

Strawberry Wholemeal Bread Loaf

1 punnet of 250g fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cup wholemeal plain flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs, well beaten

1) Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper.
2) Dice strawberries into small chunks. Place in a bowl and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Set aside.
3) Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking soda in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Blend oil and eggs and combine with the strawberries. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the strawberry mixture. Blend until dry ingredients are just moistened. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
4) Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through. Leave in pan for about ten minutes. Turn the loaf out and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Serves 8

Nutritional value per serve:
Calories 191.1
Total fat 8.6g
Saturated fat 1.4g
Polyunsaturated fat 1.0g
Monounsaturated fat 5.5g
Carbohydrate 25.5g
Dietary fibre 3.8g
Sugars 8.1g
Protein 4.9g

PS Nutritional value is calculated using the recipe calculator by SparkRecipe