Banana Bread

Bread in our family has always been a big deal. Any kind of bread.

My mother still to this day tells the story about when she was a child and her mother would send her to get a loaf of rye bread and she would eat the heels before getting it home so her brothers couldn’t get to them.  (Apparently, they tortured her in a multitude of other ways, so the score was pretty much even.)

Nonetheless, we all learned at a young age not to come between my mother and a good piece of bread.  Not if we wanted to keep our fingers! 😉

While I like bread, I can’t say I have the same attachment to it that my mother does.  I do, however, have a weak spot for special breads like banana, apple, corn and so on.

I used to love making banana bread (from a box), so it was one of the first ones I tried to duplicate  when I cleaned up my diet.   Here is the recipe I came up with, and even my mom likes it (and the best part for her is that no-one fights her for the ends!)

Ingredients:

• 1  3/4 cups spelt flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup maple sugar (NOT maple syrup)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 heaping Tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 1/2 cup “buttermilk” (1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar in a 1/2 cup measure, then fill it up with almond milk and let sit for about 10 minutes)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 stick (5 Tablespoons) vegan butter (I use 1 stick of Earth Balance)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.  I put the butter in a standard loaf pan in the oven while it is preheating.  It not only melts the butter, but it also serves to grease the pan.
2. Make the buttermilk and let it sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
4. Whisk together the bananas, extract, “buttermilk” and butter in a small bowl.
5. Add the wet to the dry and mix till combined.  Pour it into the greased loaf pan and let sit for 10-15 minutes till it rises.       

6  Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

Enjoy!