Very Banana Bread

I wanted a banana bread that was not flour and sugar with bananas, but more like... bananas with flour and sugar. So I searched and calculated the amounts of bananas in various recipes, and finally I found one that I was quite satisfied with (but I still modified it, I'm really not one for the usual "2 parts white flour + 1 part white sugar + 1 part butter"). This has a really dense and heavy texture. Though it is made in a cake pan, it is definitely not cakelike, and is more of a breakfast than a dessert.

• Ready In: 1 hr 25 mins
• Serves: 12-16
• Yields: 1 cake

Ingredients

• 8  ounces whole wheat flour
• 3  ounces buckwheat flour
• 3  ounces  oat bran
• 1  ounce flax seed meal
• 3 3⁄4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 cup sugar (I always use organic golden cane sugar instead of white)
• 3⁄4 cup  oil (I like olive in this recipe, but some might dislike the fact that the olive taste is perceptible)
• 4  large eggs
• 3  cups bananas, mashed
• 2  teaspoons  grated lemon zest (optional)
• 1 1⁄4 cups  nuts, chopped (optional)
• 5⁄8 cup  dried apricot, chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Grease and flour a 9"X13" (preferably pyrex) pan.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, bran, flax meal and baking powder.
4. Beat the eggs in a large bowl.
5. Add the sugar to the eggs, and, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat 1-2 minutes.
6. Still beating, gradually add the oil.
7. When it is well integrated, add the bananas and zest (if desired) and beat until the texture is homogenic.
8. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing until smooth after each addition.
9. Fold in the nuts and apricots, if using.
10. Scrape the batter in the pan and spread it evenly, making it perhaps a little thinner in the center.
11. Cook about 70 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
12. Cool 30 minutes, then unmold and finish cooling on a rack.