Don’t be afraid.

I know. Carrots in bread. We know that carrots are good in cake. But in bread? Yes, they are good in bread too. They add texture and moisture. And there is just something about putting grated carrots into my baked goods. I love it!

And ginger. Real, fresh ginger. You know, that knobby looking root vegetable that lurks in the produce section. That gets pickled and served next to sushi. Yes, that is what we are using here.

And trust me, you won’t find anyone who dislikes that pickled ginger more than me. I just can’t do it with sushi. I always feel like I should though. Like I’m not getting the true sushi experience without that ginger. But I’ve tried. Just give me soy sauce and wasabi and my sushi is good to go.

But, back to the ginger. This ginger does have the same taste as the pickled sushi ginger I’m talking about above. But in this bread, it just somehow works. Mixed with carrots and cinnamon and golden raisins, and baked into a bread, I’m liking this ginger flavor. The best way I can describe it is zingy and bright. Yes, it tastes bright.

Now, if after my attempt to convince you, the ginger still scares you, still try this bread. Just add less ginger! I used a small knob of fresh ginger which grated into one heaping tablespoon. And I do want to stress that that one tablespoon does produce a prominent ginger flavor. If you don’t want the ginger to be that prominent, try scaling back to 1/2 of a tablespoon. That should still give you some wonderful flavor without being too overpowering.

And the raisins. I know that they are another food on many people’s ‘will not eat’ list. They were on mine for many years. But once I discovered golden raisins, I can’t get enough of them! I put them in everything. Golden raisins add sweetness and moisture to this bread. When you come to one in the bread, it is like a little sweet, soft pillow of moisture. Tell me that doesn’t sound good!

Enjoy, this bright, zingy, moist, delicious, spring-y, refreshing bread!

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup oats, plus an additional handful for topping
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
2 cups carrots, grated
A handful of unsweetened coconut flakes, for topping (optional)

Start by preheating your oven to 425*. Grease one or two loaf pans. I used one, but wish I had used two. I had one very large loaf and wish I had two smaller ones.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and oats. Set aside.

In a another mixing bowl, cream the melted coconut oil and sugar. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Then add the milk, yogurt and vanilla extract, beating well to combine.

Add the wet ingredient mixture to the dry and mix until just combined. Add the raisins, ginger and carrots and again mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Top the batter with a handful of oats and unsweetened coconut flakes.

For one loaf pan, bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. If you use two loaf pans, the baking time will be less, so I would start checking the loaves at 30 minutes.

Enjoy!