vegan | wholefoods | egg-free | dairy-free
Many people love banana bread but I wonder how many people
realise that the commercially made varieties can actually be rather unhealthy.
Many contain a lot of butter, white flour and sugar.
My banana bread is healthier but tastes just as good, if
not, even better than any banana bread I have ever tried. My version contains
inexpensive ingredients, omits animal fats and instead contains healthy fats in
the form of walnuts and olive oil. Having said that, we only need small amounts
of good fats in our diet, so I am not advocating that you eat the whole loaf.
It also contains a lot of fibre from the bananas and a mixture
of oats and whole-meal flour. This is not
only more nutritious, but will also help to keep you fuller for longer. It is
also very low in added sugar. Ripe bananas are already naturally sweet as their
sugar content increases the riper that they become. In fact, you can even use
over-ripe bananas as a sweeter instead of sugar in your baking.
Give this recipe a go and let me know in the comments
section what you thought.
Enjoy xx
Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup of whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup of quick oats (slightly ground whole- oats)
-3/4 of a cup of natural walnuts, slightly crumbled
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
-2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon of bi-carb soda
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
Wet Ingredients:
-414g (roughly) of overripe bananas, peeled, or approximately
3 large bananas (Use bananas that are brown and spotty- this is what gives the
bread its texture and sweet taste.)
-1/2 cup of unsweetened rice milk (or any other vegan milk
that does not have a strong taste)
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar (this helps to make the
bread rise by activating the bi-carb and baking soda)
- OPTIONAL: 2 teaspoons of maple syrup (real maple syrup,
not the 'maple flavoured' high fructose corn syrup).
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180° Celsius.
2. Spray a loaf pan with cooking oil and line with baking
paper. Make sure that you also give the baking paper a slight spray with oil.
3. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large mixing
bowl.
4. In another bowl, mash the bananas before adding the rest
of the wet ingredients. Mix until it forms a uniform, thick paste.
5. Pour the wet ingredients in to bowl with the dry
ingredients and mix until well combined. The mixture should resemble a thick
cake batter.
6. Pour the mixture in to the loaf pan and bake in the oven
for approximately 40-50 minutes. Actual cooking times vary from oven to oven,
so it is important to regularly check on the bread, so that it does not burn. You
will know that the bread is ready when it has browned on top and a tooth pick
inserted, comes out clean.
7. Remove the loaf from the oven and allow it cool down in
the tin for at least 20 minutes before removing.
Tip: If your
banana bread has browned on top before it has cooked through, cover it with foil
for the remainder of the cooking time.
Storage: Once the
banana bread has thoroughly cooled, place it in a sealed container and store it
in the fridge for up to 3 days. As the recipe is very natural and contains a
lot of bananas, it does not have a very long shelf life. Alternatively, you
could slice the bread up, wrap it in foil and store it in the freezer for a
month or so.
