WHOLEGRAIN SPELT BANANA BREAD RECIPE
Ingredients
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 dessertspoons maple syrup
2 free range eggs
2 large brown (ripe) banana – mashed
1/4 cup milk
1.75 cups of wholegrain spelt flour – sieved
Pinch salt
2 tsps. cinnamon
1 level tsp. bread soda (not baking powder)
1/2 cup pecans – chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 165C
- Whisk all the wet ingredients in a large bowl (it helps to heat the honey slightly in microwave if it isn’t runny)
- Mix the dry ingredients in another bowl
- Add the chopped pecans
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well
- Bake for 55 mins in a 2 Ib silicone bread tin (no need to grease or line)
- Check bread after 50 mins – Stick a knife into the middle – it is cooked when the knife is clean
My Tips
- I adapted this recipe from cookie and kate – don’t be afraid of adapting recipes to make them healthier, you hear that baking is a science and of course it is but as long as you use the same quantities it will most likely work out!
- Usually extra virgin olive oil can not be used for cooking but the temp is low enough to use it here
- Thecinnamon naturally lends sweetness to the bread
- Wholegrain spelt flour unlike wholemeal wheat is not a course flour and so works well as a substitute for white flour in baking
- Spelt is a type of wheat and contains gluten – just in case you believe it to be either wheat free or gluten free
- The bananas need to be ripe
- You could use walnuts instead of pecans or leave them out
- Make sure the tsp. of bread soda is completely level and not heaped or you will taste it
- 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
- Also the next time I make it I am going to use half the honey, I always do this to see how low I can go and still enjoy it
- It is divine so maybe don’t even go here unless you have a house full of people to share this with!!!
Niamh O'Kennedy
18 Aug 2018Could you make this work as gluten free? Thanks
Paula Duggan
18 Aug 2018Hey, I haven’t tried but I have substituted with buckwheat flour in the past when trialing my carrot muffins for a coeliac client and they turned out just fine, and this recipe is actually quite similar to my wholegrain carrot muffins. Let me know how you get on. GF Oat flour is another one you could try …
Lindsay
8 Sep 2018I have been looking for a healthy banana bread recipe, can I use regular wholewheat flour???
Paula Duggan
15 Sep 2018The wholegrain spelt works better as it is more similar to white flour in texture, as it is less coarse it works as a great substitute for white flour in muffins, carrot bread, banana bread etc. You get the benefit of the fibre by using wholegrain!!