Banana Bread

Ingredients

1½ cups flour (buckwheat for gf option)
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate soda (baking soda)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2-3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg
1/4 C olive oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup plain yoghurt
maple syrup or honey to drizzle on top
1 extra banana for a fancy top (optional)

Summary

This serves 6-8, and needs a small loaf tin. It’s adapted from this great gluten free Donna Hay loaf that a friend has been making a lot recently. I’ve used olive oil and a tsp of vanilla essence, and dropped out some extra sweetness (though you could certainly use even less sugar with no ill effects!). The yoghurt makes this version nice and moist, but banana bread is very forgiving so if you want to omit the yoghurt, just try adding an extra banana, or an egg, or up the olive oil a little bit. Can you go wrong with banana bread?

Another great looking recipe here uses honey, spelt and desiccated coconut. You might like to check that out too. Enjoy!

Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb soda and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix to combine. Mix in the mashed banana, egg, yoghurt, olive oil and vanilla essence.

Pour into a lightly greased, small loaf tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Top with the extra banana, if you like. I also used a sprinkle of rolled oats which makes it look nice and healthier than it really is. Note: If you’ve ever really looked at a banana, you’ll know they are made in 3 sections. An easy way to divide them is to press your finger or thumb on the end, and the three sections should easily split. This is a great move when dehydrating them, too. No more slicing bananas with a knife.

Bake for about an hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. Drizzle with extra maple syrup or honey if you like.