Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Awesome Gluten Free Banana Bread


The biggest problem I've had with this bread is that it disappears so fast that I don't have time to get a picture of it.

3 mashed very ripe bananas (roughly 1 cup)
2 large  eggs
1/4 cup light oil, coconut oil or ghee
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup  sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup either quinoa (lighter texture) teff (nutty flavor) or more sorghum (very moist consistency) flour
2 tablespoon ground flax seed
2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure brand is GF)
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup walnut pieces(optional)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch ceramic or glass loaf pan. Sometimes lining with parchment will help lift the bread out of the pan. I cannot say enough about using a heavier pan so the batter bakes more evenly. And I don't usually use the parchment, just make sure it is greased well.

In a mixing bowl, beat the mashed bananas with the eggs, oil and brown sugar till combined. Add the sorghum, tapioca starch, the other flour (quinoa, teff, or more sorghum) ground flax seed, GF baking powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and beat until a smooth sticky batter forms. Stir in the walnut pieces by hand.

Scoop the batter into the loaf pan and spread evenly. Stud the top with some extra walnut pieces, if desired. Bake on the center rack for 55 to 65 minutes, if necessary, until the center is done (a wooden cake tester should emerge clean). Ovens vary, so check the loaf at 50 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack. 

I've made this bread for non GF people and they also love it. I've also played around with the flours, baking different loaves and lining them up next to each other. So far the favorite in these taste trials has been the quinoa version. Just using sorghum and tapioca makes a very moist, sort of gummy loaf. The quinoa adds a sort of malty flavor and makes it less gummy. The teff is a nice variation and seems to add a nutty note. Just some observations. I don't think I would increase the tapioca beyond 1/2 cup.

1 comment:

CoastalCAGardener said...

120 gm walnuts