I wanted to make a sweet treat for a little lady in my life, however she is gluten, dairy and nut free (besides almond meal). Although I had made the occasional gluten free recipe in my time, mostly meringues and cookies based on nut butter, I am far from an expert on allergy restricted baking. Saying this, I am always up for a baking challenge and I thought a banana bread would be somewhat easy to adapt.
And, voila - a fabulous banana loaf! Despite using no dairy, gluten free flour and a touch of almond meal - it turned out better than some of my other banana breads I have baked in my time.
If you need the recipe to be completely nut free, you could definitely leave out the almond meal. It just really adds to the texture.
So if you need an all rounded for an afternoon tea or a lovely morning tea snack in a lunch box, this recipe could be for you!
INGREDIENTS
Serves 12
4 large eggs
3 large [1 cup] ripe bananas - mashed
110 grams [½ cup] caster sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
270 grams [2 cups] gluten free plain flour
30 grams [¼ cup] almond meal (optional)
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 180C [350F]. Grease and flour (gluten free) a metal loaf tin - 11cm x 22cm and line the base with baking paper.
In a bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and sugar until throughly combined.
In another bowl, sift together the gluten free flour, almond meal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just incorporated.
Pour the mixture into your loaf tin, smoothing the top with an offset spatula or knife.
Bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 50 - 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Leave the bread in the tin on a wire cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before turning it out.
STORAGE
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
TIPS + TRICKS
It is incredibly important when baking gluten free that you baking soda is fresh. You need every bit of rise!
Depending on how ripe your bananas, will effect the baking time. So just check from 50 minutes on. As I used overly ripe bananas, it needed 1 hour.