Banana bread
It’s easy to fall in love with the smell of freshly baked banana bread, one of the most popular tea breads and most useful for using up ripe bananas. This dairy-free, egg-free and sugar-free version has subtle hints of honey, cinnamon and olive oil. Do these sound familiar? That’s because they are Mediterranean staple ingredients. Don’t be misled by the free-from labels, this banana bread has all the comforting flavours and aromas in one easy, flop-proof recipe.
Here are a few things I’ve learnt about making a delicious and healthy free-from banana bread:
Use very ripe bananas-they mash better, taste better and add natural sweetness to the bread.
If wholegrain is not your thing, you can replace it with the same quantity (in grams) of white spelt flour or all-purpose flour.
Use healthier oils. Extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil work well in this recipe. Coconut oil gives a slight coconut taste to the loaf.
When adding the dry ingredients into the banana mixture, stir lightly until the dry ingredients are incorporated but do not over mix. If you over mix, it will turn out dense.
Honey is an excellent sweetener in baking, although it can be a bit tricky when substituting a dry ingredient with a liquid.
You can also use maple syrup instead of honey.
Boost your banana bread with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, nuts (if you can tolerate them), or dark chocolate (even dairy free). Every bit of extra flavour and nutrition counts in healthier baked recipes so don’t skimp on quality.
Banana Bread
Makes one loaf
250g wholegrain spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted seeds, chopped nuts or dairy free dark chocolate chips
3 large ripe bananas, peeled
75ml extra virgin olive oil
100ml raw honey
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C and line a loaf tin with a 19x9x6.5cm 20lb non-stick loaf tin liner.
Place the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl and whisk to combine. Stir in half the seeds/nuts/chocolate, reserving the rest for the topping.
Place the ripe bananas, olive oil, honey into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
Lightly stir in the dry ingredients until combined. Do not overmix. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle the remaining seeds/nuts/chocolate on top.
Bake for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the loaf cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
