Vegan Rhubarb Bread

I never let Spring go by without grabbing up some delicious, ruby-red stalks of rhubarb. There are so many possibilities for what you can do with this veggie, from savory to sweet, but without a doubt rhubarb’s popularity and firm standing as one of America’s favorite Spring ingredients has been forged by the unique flavor it adds to desserts. I’ve baked up many rhubarb recipes for you over the years, from a Rhubarb Pie to a Rhubarb Mousse and a Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake. They’re all wonderful, but this vegan Rhubarb Bread is to die for. The recipe itself is easy and quick and you can put it all together in 15 minutes. You need a few minutes to cook the rhubarb before it goes into the batter. I adapted this recipe from one at the King Arthur site, and my vegan substitutions worked beautifully. The bread was moist and tender, with rhubarb flavor infused throughout and pockets of crunchy walnuts. I used unbleached all purpose flour but you can use whole wheat pastry flour without any loss of flavor or deliciousness. Just substitute an equal quantity as the all purpose flour, or use half and half. Check to get new recipe updates by email.

I had about five stalks of rhubarb, which was perfect for this recipe: it gave me the 2 ½ cups of chopped rhubarb I needed to add to the batter, and I had half a stalk left over to decorate the top of the bread and add a pretty look. You can completely skip the decorative bit, but why would you when it looks so good?