When the weather gets colder and Great British Bake Off is on the telly, I always have the urge to bake and when bananas turn ripe it would be rude not to bake banana bread! I’ve tried loads of different recipes in the past and this one seems to be the one that works best, I’ve slightly adjusted it from the original version which I found via The Buddhist Chef.
Ingredients
2 Ripe Bananas
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
125ml Vegetable Oil (save a little to oil the bread pan)
125ml Almond Milk
200g Brown Sugar
300g Plain Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate Soda
150g Mixed Fruit and Nuts
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 c / Gas Mark 4
- Oil the bread pan
- Mash the bananas in a bowl
- Add the lemon juice, almond milk (or milk of choice), vegetable oil and brown sugar to the bananas and whisk for two minutes until all the lumps have disappeared – I tried doing this with a fork but it didn’t work well, so used a hand blender
- In a separate bowl add the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda, salt, nuts and mix together
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients (which you prepared in the previous bowl) and stir to mix together, forming a batter
- Pour the batter into the oil bread pan
- Bake for 45 minutes – poke the bread with a knife and if it comes out clean it is cooked if not bake for a little longer, mine took an extra fifteen minutes until it was ready
- Let it cool on a wire rack before tipping it out and cutting in to it
- Eat and enjoy!
Verdict / Thoughts
The taste testers for this Banana Bread were my parents as I trust their opinion and as they cook for a living they would be able to pick up on the flavours and give me constructive criticism.
Like naughty children we couldn’t help ourselves and cut in to the bread ten minutes after taking it out of the oven which meant it was still hot! This made the cutting process a little difficult and broke the bread, not by much though. As they tried it whilst it was still warm, they picked up on the oil through the smell but they said it wasn’t too overpowering and still enjoyed the taste.
My parents then tried it again for breakfast, which means it was served at room temperature and they absolutely loved it! They couldn’t smell or taste the oil, and the bread was moist which meant it was lovely and soft and because I had to cook it a bit longer than the suggested forty five minutes, the outside was slightly harder than the inside which made the contrast of textures appealing.
My boyfriend and brother also had their fair share of my baking creation and it went down very well and both of them enjoyed it with a cup of tea. As they are also both quite picky and health conscious when it comes to their diets it was nice to have their taste test opinions and surprisingly there wasn’t any criticism constructive or destructive. They really enjoyed the flavours, the fruit and nuts and said it was the right amount of sweetness.
So all in all this recipe was a hit! Success!
The final verdict is that it’s a dish best served cold!
I will definitely be recreating this recipe but will make some minor adjustments to the recipe, such as adding less oil to see if the level of moistness is still the same or try adding other egg replacements such as chia seeds or flaxseeds and I might add some chocolate nibs to see if it changes the flavour. Also don’t be heavy handed with the salt as I once was, as it really shows in the flavour! Ooooops!
If you have any suggestions or make this amazing Banana Bread leave a comment below. Happy baking!