Banana bread is always a big hit in my house. It’s been something I’ve been making more often now that fresh bananas are a regular staple for Nolan, my 3 year old. Sometimes he eats them all before they ripen too much for his liking, and sometimes doesn’t. That’s when banana bread comes!
The new adventure with my banana bread is finding the right balance while being gluten free, egg free and mostly dairy free (sometimes I still use butter). The one thing that has never changed, chocolate chips. As my husband, Tony, would say ‘what’s the point of baked goods if there’s no chocolate?’.
If you have ripened bananas on your counter but not ready to make banana bread, peel them and put them in a plastic bag or container and toss them in your freezer. This way you will be ready to thaw and bake the next time you’re ready.
For this recipe, depending on the size of your bananas you will need either 2 or 3. Last time I made this recipe, I popped my bananas (skin on) on my handy kitchen scale, and found that my 2 huge bananas were about 350 grams. Today’s batch, my bananas were a little smaller, so it took 3 to make up the 350 grams. Probably don’t need to exactly measure your bananas each time, but I wanted to give a reference since getting the right amount of banana impacts the flavour and the moisture in the finished bread. You want it to be soft and only a little ooey gooey.
You can make this recipe just gluten free, by using regular butter, milk and an egg. If you need more things substituted, you have that option as well! For the egg replacement in this loaf, I am using my new friend, a psyllium husk powder ‘egg’. I found a huge container of psyllium husk powder in my baking cupboard from a past experiment, so I decided to give it a go. The ‘egg’ alone didn’t quite give me the lift in the dough I was looking for, so I add in a ¼ tsp of baking powder too. This worked perfectly!
Don’t have psyllium husk at home? You can use a flax or chia ‘egg’ to replace it, or use an egg replacing powder. Most egg replacement powders will have some baking powder in them, so you won’t need to add extra.
Buttermilk. It gives a very unique flavour to baked goods and acts as the catalyst with the baking soda to help bread rise, but if you need a dairy free alternative, you will just have to create it. By adding a ¼ tsp of apple cider vinegar or not from concentrate lemon juice, you will give yourself a dairy free buttermilk alternative. Don’t want to bother? Then just use milk or alt. milk and replace your baking soda for baking powder.
Molasses, this is a special twist I loved adding to my recipe. It’s a great way to increase the sweetness a little, add extra depth to the flavour and sneak in some good minerals along the way. I love when the nutritionist and chef/baker in me combine together so beautifully!
When your bread is done, always give it the tooth pick check. If it comes out mostly clean, check another area, sometimes a larger clump of banana will give you the feeling the bread needs more time. Sometimes a well-placed chocolate chip will do the same thing. You want to make sure your bread is cooked all the way through and not still doughy. Ovens do vary, so it’s always best to check.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, and that your kids will ask for a ‘big, BIG piece’ just like mine does!
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