I am delighted to be featuring some recipes from wonderfully talented baker Henrietta Inman this week. This versatile gluten free banana bread recipe is from Henrietta’s upcoming book, The Natural Baker, and is a fabulous one to try making yourselves. Gluten free banana bread smothered in a variety of tasty toppings…what’s not to love! I was lucky enough to be given a sneak preview of Henrietta’s book and there are tonnes of fabulous gluten free recipes in there (note not all the recipes in the book are gluten free, but she has a good number of gluten free recipes featured).
You can preorder The Natural Baker by Henrietta Inman now. The book is published by Jacqui Small, an imprint of The Quarto Group and retails for £20.
In the meantime, enjoy this recipe straight from the lovely lady herself!
Walnut and flaxseed (linseed) banana bread with lots of toppings (serves 10–12)
We all need a quick gluten free banana bread recipe in our repertoire, so I wanted to share mine with you. It’s quick to make and nourishing, packed full of fibre and wholesome deliciousness. I love its caramel flavour from the honey and bananas, the soft, sweet vanilla notes from the coconut oil, the crunch from the seeds and the great crust. It’s also not too sweet, allowing for extra drizzles of honey or maple syrup once it gets on your plate, if you want. It’s a mash-it-up, shove-it-in-the-tin kind of cakey-loaf. Bake it in the evening, ready for breakfast the next morning; when the timer goes, just turn the oven off, open its door and leave the loaf there to wake up to. It’s also great at teatime, or in a lunchbox.
Ingredients
For the gluten free banana bread:
- 100g (3½oz / ½ cup) virgin coconut oil, melted, plus more for the tin (pan) 100g (3½oz / ¾ cup) walnuts
- 100g (3½oz / 1 cup) ground almonds pinch of sea salt flakes
- Generous pinch of ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 100g (3½oz / 1 cup) oat bran
- 100g (3½oz / ¾ cup) flaxseeds or golden linseeds
- 100g (3½oz / ⅓ cup) runny honey
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 500g (1lb 2oz) banana flesh (from 4–5 bananas), as ripe as possible
Toppings I love:
- peaches, raspberries, ricotta or mascarpone cheese and honey or honeycomb
- figs, yogurt and honeycomb
- butter and honey or honeycomb or jam, or date syrup or maple syrup
- yogurt and honey or honeycomb and a sprinkle of toasted nuts, seeds or granola, with fresh fruit
- yogurt and berries or fruit compote, with a sprinkle of granola
- nut butter, jam or squashed berries or banana
- ice cream and melted chocolate
- tahini, maple syrup, chopped dates or figs and sesame seeds or walnuts
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Oil a 18 x 11 x 8cm (7 x 4½ x 3in) loaf tin (pan) and line the base and sides with a piece of baking parchment, so it’s easy to remove the bread after baking.
- In a food processor, process the walnuts until fine. Add the ground almonds, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking powder, oat bran and seeds and process to combine. Use a spatula to scrape the ingredients off the bottom of the bowl and process once more.
- Add the coconut oil, honey, vanilla and bananas and process until as smooth as possible. (If there are a few lumps of banana, that’s fine.)
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin (pan) and bake for 40 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3, rotate the tin (pan) and bake for a further 30–40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out just clean and the top of the loaf is dark golden brown and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin (pan), then remove from the tin (pan) and serve with any of the toppings listed on the left, or just with butter.
- Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for at least 1 week, or cut and freeze in slices for up to 1 month (see page 17). When it’s less fresh, it’s nice warmed up a little in the oven, on a baking tray (sheet) lined with baking parchment.
Variation: Raisins or other dried fruit, whole nuts and other seeds are all nice additions to the batter, each lending a little more flavour and texture.
Thank you, Henrietta for sharing this glorious gluten free recipe!
Loved this recipe? Check out these other gluten free baking recipes:
