I've been baking banana bread for a local cafe for a few months now. We took the cafe owner's mom's recipe and tweaked it until it tasted better than the original. It is packed with bananas and is both moist and flavorful and joyfully cinnamon-free (there's just way too much cinnamon in loaf cake recipes, but that's just me). Plus it holds up for a week - and flavor peaks around day 3 or 4.
I actually don't like banana bread. So in developing the recipe, I depended on the cafe staff to tell me how to tweak it. Bananas just...rub me the wrong way. Maybe once a year I'll eat a banana, usually in close proximity to that once-a-year ceremonial drinking of the soft drink. If I don't sleep through it.
Banana bread is an easy recipe to convert to gluten-free. Bananas do wonders in baked goods, adding texture and moisture without making the batter too wet. Because it is a high-fat cake, it does not need gums for structure.
If you'd like to turn this into a dairy free cake, I've included some conversions in the recipe. The cake will be slightly less fatty and delicate, but it should still be delicious.
You can watch me make the banana bread here, on How2Heroes.com:
Gluten-Free Banana-Chocolate Chip Bread
yield: 1 12" loaf or two regular loaves
- 1 C + 2T Teff
- 1 C Light Buckwheat
- 1/4 C Tapioca Flour
- 1/4 C Sweet Brown Rice Flour
- 1-2/3 C Sugar or Rapadura
- 1-1/2 t (corn-free) Baking Powder
- 1-1/4 t Baking Soda
- 1 t Salt
- 4 oz (1 stick) Butter (sub 4 oz jungle shortening or coconut oil)
- 1/4 C Safflower or Sunflower Oil
- 2-1/2 C mashed Bananas, about 4 large Bananas or 6 medium Bananas
- 1/2 C + 1/3 C Buttermilk (or 1/2 C + 1/3 C Water + 1T vinegar)
- 2 ea Eggs (or 2t ground flax plus 1/4 C water)
- 1 T Vanilla
- 1 C chocolate Chips OR Chopped Pecans OR combination of the two
Preheat oven to 350 F (325 in Convection oven). Prepare baking pan, either line with parchment or dust with butter and 'flour' (I use teff, though parchment is the tastier option. Trust me).
Combine all dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer (or, if no mixer, in a bowl). Add butter and mix until butter/dry combination has consistency of cornmeal. Add wet ingredients all at once and mix for about 2 minutes. Fold in Nuts/Chocolate or combination.
Pour into loaf pan. Bake in center rack for about 1 hr, or until a toothpick inserted in the loaf comes out clean.
Allow to cool. Slice and eat or freeze right away. Will remain tender for at least 5 days, if kept in an airtight container.
