MY WHOLEGRAIN SPELT BANANA BREAD RECIPE

I love banana bread, that is to say I love homemade banana bread as I usually find it unnecessarily sweet in cafes!

Personally, I think this wholegrain spelt banana bread is divine. So, just a heads up maybe don’t even go here unless you have a house full of people to share this with!!! In other words it taste like more if you get my meaning!!

Ingredients

2 large ripe banana – mashed

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/3 cup / 80ml extra virgin olive oil

2 free range large eggs

1/4 cup / 60ml milk

250g wholegrain spelt flour 

Pinch salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 level tsp. bread soda (not baking powder)

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts – chopped

Banana Bread Method

1. Preheat the fan oven to 160C
2. Whisk all the wet ingredients in a large bowl (it helps to heat the honey slightly in microwave if it isn’t runny)
3. Mix the dry ingredients in another bowl
4. Add the chopped pecans
5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well
6. Bake for 55 mins in a 2Ib silicone bread tin (no need to grease or line)
7. Check bread after 50 mins – Stick a knife into the middle – it is cooked when the knife is clean.

My Banana Bread Tips!!

1. Don’t be afraid of adapting recipes to make them healthier, baking is a science but as long as you use the same quantities it will most likely work out! To clarify, a Victoria sponge recipe doesn’t allow for much adaptations but muffins & sturdier bready cakes do!
2. Extra virgin olive oil can be used for home cooking and it is the world’s healthiest oil, the original recipe called for sunflower oil
3. The cinnamon naturally lends sweetness to the bread
4. Wholegrain spelt flour unlike wholemeal wheat is not a course flour and so works well as a substitute for white flour in baking. In other words, you get the benefit of the fibre of brown flour but the functionality of white flour.
5. Spelt is a type of wheat and contains gluten, however many people believe it to be wheat free or gluten free. Nutritionally, wholemeal spelt is similar to normal wholemeal wheat, but with a little more protein.
6. The bananas need to be ripe. Don’t be tempted to add anymore maple syrup as bananas are already naturally very sweet especially when over-ripe.
7. You could use walnuts instead of pecans or alternatively leave them out.
8. Make sure the tsp. of bread soda is completely level and not heaped or you will taste it, consequently, get a rather tart/drying effect on your tongue!!
9. The next time I make this I am going to try making with 3/4 cup of wholemeal wheat flour to get a more bready and less cakey texture
10. Also the next time I make it I am going to use half the maple syrup, I always do this to see how low I can go and still enjoy it!! What a challenge, hey!!