My Favourite Traditional Banana Bread Recipe

This banana bread recipe is delicious, quick and easy to make….it’s a favourite in our home! The smell of banana bread while it’s baking is amazing and the boys love it when I make a fresh loaf for them for after school tea.

My mother in-law makes the best banana bread and this is actually adapted from her original recipe. This recipe only uses few ingredients, which most you should already have in a well stocked wholefoods pantry. I’m a fan of using few or basic ingredients from what you already have on hand. If I have run out or i’m low on spelt flour, ill often just grind up some raw ingredients on hand, such as brown rice, buckwheat, almonds/flour, seeds, coconut flour etc and make up the rest of the flour with that.

I also tend to buy extra bananas, so that I can freeze some over ripe bananas for smoothies and also use to make banana bread every couple of weeks or so.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 100g softened butter (or a light flavoured olive oil)
• 60g  or approx. 1/4 cup rapadura or coconut sugar – you can also use honey, brown rice syrup, 100% maple syrup, dates or apple puree. You will just need to adjust according to your preferred sweetness.  The original recipe uses 3/4 cup of sugar! but I don’t think it needs it especially if you are baking for kids.
• 2 eggs
• 4 large soft ripened bananas
• 2 cups plain spelt flour (you can also do half wholemeal spelt flour or use a gluten free flour)
• 4 tsp baking powder

 

OPTIONAL EXTRAS:

• Walnuts- I like to add on top, so that my fussy toddler doesn’t get freaked out by the crunchy pieces inside the banana bread! I’d love to mix it throughout, if I had a choice!
• Dark chocolate pieces- Just roughly chop or break by hand. Aim for at least 70% dark chocolate or use a raw chocolate if you’d prefer to skip the dairy. Or even cacao nibs would work well here.
• Extra 1/2 banana- slice in half lengthways, and lay on top of the banana bread before baking in the oven.

 

METHOD

1. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a medium sized loaf pan with butter or olive oil.
2. Melt the butter in the thermomix ( or in small pan or microwave)
3. Add the sugar, eggs and banana to the melted butter and blend until a smooth consistency.
4. Add the flour and baking powder, mix until just combined well (do not over mix).
5. Add in any walnuts or chocolate if using at this stage.
6. Pour into the tin, and sprinkle with walnuts or sliced banana
7. Bake in the oven for approximately 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when pierced in the middle. If the banana bread is browning too soon, reduce your oven temperature.
8. Leave to cool slightly in the pan before turning out and cool on a wire rack
9. Serve while still slightly warm and store the left overs in an air tight container.

 

ENJOY!