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Banana Bread

Once you get used to making this – it comes together pretty quickly. A healthy Banana Bread that’s loaded with nuts / seeds, all the good stuff! I like using nuts & seeds that our family wouldn’t generally eat raw by themselves as a snack – walnuts, pepitas, sunflowers seeds etc (just to get more variety). 

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats
  • 1 Cup of Mixed Nuts / Seeds (ground up, leaving some texture)
  • 2 Tablespoons of Ground Chia
 
For Sifting:
  • 1 Cup Spelt Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan Salt

Wet Ingredients

  • 4 medium / 5 small Bananas – Ripe
  • 2/3 Cup Honey
  • 60g unsalted Butter (melted) / can use Virgin Coconut Oil (solid, melted)
  • 1/3 Cup Milk
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste
  •  2 large Eggs (whisked in a cup)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C conventional.
  2. Spread Rolled Oats onto a large sheet of baking paper (baking paper will be reused in loaf pan later). Toast for 8-10 min until lightly golden. Check in occasionally, or set a timer.
  3. Sift all of the Dry Ingredients for sifting into a medium bowl – stir through the rest of the Dry Ingredients, including the toasted Rolled Oats once cooled.
  4. Mash Bananas in a large bowl. Make sure you have at least 1 1/2 cups of mashed banana. Mix in the rest of the Wet Ingredients, adding the melted butter (or coconut oil) last, pouring slowly and whisking constantly. 
  5. Before mixing the Wet & Dry Ingredients – prepare the loaf pan. Cut the baking paper to size, leaving an overhang to use as handles later on. Add a splash of liquid coconut oil and rub into the baking paper, then place inside the loaf pan.
  6. To mix Wet & Dry – first sprinkle the dry ingredients all over the top of the wet ingredients – and FOLD through mixture until the flour just disappears. Don’t overmix. 
  7. Bake for 30 minutes, then loosely cover the pan with foil, making sure that the foil shields both ends of the pan (because the bread is sweetened with honey, it will caramelise and become dark at the corners). Continue baking for 35 to 45 additional minutes (65 to 75 minutes total) or until a skewer comes out without any wet batter clinging to it.

  8. Place the pan on a wire rack, and let the bread cool in the pan for 1 hour. Using the baking paper handles, lift the bread and set it out on the rack to finish cooling completely. Slice and enjoy!

TO STORE: Once the bread has fully cooled, place it in an airtight storage container lined with a paper towel. Lay another paper towel over the top of the bread. Seal, and keep at room temperature for up to 1 week.

TO FREEZE: Place the oatmeal banana bread slices in an airtight freezer-safe storage container, and freeze for up to 3 months.