My original banana bread recipe blog is featured directly below. It’s awesome. But my wife’s dietary needs required that I make some changes. My gluten-free version of the recipe, at the bottom of the page, is so good, you won’t miss the wheat!
The original recipe…
What makes this banana bread special is that it uses whole wheat flour…less sugar…and no artificial extracts that make most banana breads taste like crap. It relies on very ripe bananas to give it its wonderful natural flavor.
It’s not always easy to get bananas to ripen exactly when you’re trying to make your banana bread recipe. So here’s what I do: I by a large bunch of bananas and let them get very ripe at room temperature. I then take 5 at a time (for this recipe), peel them, and place the bananas in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. When it’s time to make banana bread, I just pull one of those Ziplocs out of the freezer, let it thaw, and mash with a potato masher.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
5 medium-sized bananas, peeled and mashed
2 tsp real vanilla extract
Cooking spray
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Combine the sugar and oil in a mixing bowl and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. (I use the whisk attachment.) Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat until the mixture is light and lemon colored.
With the mixer running at low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the bananas, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Blend well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and blend some more to mix.
Pour the batter into 2 loaf pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in the loaf pan on a wire rack.
Remove from the pan and let it cool completely on the wire rack before slicing.
The gluten-free recipe…
Wow…things have changed since I made the original recipe! First, the flour: My go-to gluten-free flour is the brand called Cup 4 Cup. You can find it in most supermarkets. I only use this flour in this recipe.
If you want a slightly more “rustic” flavor, you can substitute 1/2 a cup of corn meal for 1/2 a cup of the flour. I now use organic cane sugar instead of regular sugar. I no longer use vegetable oil, especially not canola, so I use healthier avocado oil. Eggs are pastured when I can get ’em. Bananas are organic. And I rub the pans with coconut oil instead of using cooking spray.
4 cups gluten-free flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
3/4 cup avocado oil
2 eggs
5 medium-sized bananas, peeled and mashed
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
coconut oil
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Combine the sugar and oil in a mixing bowl and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. (I use the whisk attachment.) Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat until the mixture is light and lemon colored.
With the mixer running at low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the bananas, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Blend well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and blend some more to mix.
Pour the batter into 2 loaf pans that have been rubbed with the coconut oil. Bake for 45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in the loaf pan on a wire rack.
Remove from the pan and let it cool completely on the wire rack before slicing.
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