1. Use Less Sugar

Add as little sugar as possible. This means packing as many naturally sweet and creamy bananas into the bread. When it comes to choosing sugar, go for light or dark brown sugar: brown sugar adds a deeper, more caramel-like flavor to my bread than granulated sugar, which has a less nuanced flavor.

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2. Replace All-Purpose Flour with Whole-Wheat Flour

You can replace at least half of the all-purpose flour in a recipe with whole-wheat flour. I tend to do a one-to-one swap, using whole-wheat flour in place of the amount of all-purpose flour called for.

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3. Add Healthy Fruit and Nuts

Mix in different kinds of fruit and nuts to your bread to add texture, flavor and health benefits. When it comes to fruit, I love the taste of tart, plump blueberries. I will add as much as 1 1/2 cups of blueberries and 1/2 cup of toasted, roughly chopped walnuts to the batter.

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4. Use Less Butter and More Buttermilk

By using a combination of 1 cup of nonfat buttermilk plus 2 tablespoons of canola oil, you can get away with almost no butter. Buttermilk also helps keep your bread moist as it bakes.

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Click through for some of our best bread recipes!

Orange-Spiced Fruit Bread

Orange zest, aniseed and allspice, along with honey, lend this full-bodied fruit bread an intriguing flavor. The medley of three dried fruits gives it a chewy texture, eye-catching color and healthful fiber.

Click here for the recipe: Orange-Spiced Fruit Bread

Parmesan-Herb Focaccia

Puffy, chewy-crisp and fragrant with fresh herbs, this Parmesan focaccia goes well with soups, stews and, of course, Italian-style fare. Be sure to use only fresh herbs and avoid the temptation to stir them into the dough.

Click here for the recipe: Parmesan-Herb Focaccia

Parmesan Skillet Flatbreads

Cooking these rustic rounds on the stovetop is fast work, fun to do and gives them a toasty exterior and moist center.

Click here for the recipe: Parmesan Skillet Flatbreads

Crunchy-Munchy Corn & Millet Bread

The outside of this bread is crunchy and the inside is moist, with small bits of corn grits and millet or sesame seeds. The loaf’s mild corn flavor goes well with chowders, stews and Tex-Mex dishes.

Click here for the recipe: Crunchy-Munchy Corn & Millet Bread

Pumpkin Bread

Canned pumpkin puree and whole-wheat flour come together in this healthy homemade pumpkin bread. The canned pumpkin helps keep the bread moist and tender.

Click here for the recipe: Pumpkin Bread

Honey Oat Quick Bread

This bread has a pleasant flavor and divinely moist, tender crumb. It goes well with almost any soup or chowder. Plus, the recipe requires minimal mixing and cleanup, calls for ingredients usually stocked in the pantry, and is tasty yet healthful.

Click here for the recipe: Honey Oat Quick Bread

EatingWell Zucchini Bread With Chocolate Chips

Here’s a super-simple zucchini bread recipe. The addition of chocolate chips makes it more like a dessert than a breakfast, but you can enjoy it anytime.

Click here for the recipe: EatingWell Zucchini Bread With Chocolate Chips

EatingWell Zucchini Bread

This zucchini bread recipe is a great way to use up your zucchini crop. Try it with toasted walnuts or raisins. Freeze 2-cup portions of shredded zucchini so you can make zucchini bread all year long.

Click here for the recipe: EatingWell Zucchini Bread

Yogurt-Zucchini Bread With Walnuts

This moist, nutty bread is a terrific way to use up late-summer zucchini . The walnuts in the bread are super-heart-healthy, and the yogurt adds moisture without any fat.

Click here for the recipe: Yogurt-Zucchini Bread With Walnuts