Butter-Free Banana Bread
Printer- (and sanity-) friendly recipe minus pics & rambling.
This is my first food-related post, and the recipe related herein is totally awesome. I'm no Atkins groupie, nor vegan, nor a cholesterol- or fat-o-phobe, but believe in good, wholesome ingredients. The biggest thing I try to watch is my own diet is the ratio of total fat to saturated fat, which commercial food packaging makes easy to track. Generally, I aim to keep the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance percent of "total fat" lower than "saturated fat". Since dairy fat is usually lopsided two-to-one on the wrong side of such an equation, I felt pretty glum the first time I made my own banana bread and saw it called for almost an entire stick of butter. Frowny face, indeed!
What could be done?
After about a year of tinkering, I came up with a product that still keeps the delicious texture of "original" banana bread, based on a recipe from the Joy of Cooking.
Butter is out, other delicious and healthy fats are in, bananas and nuts and whole grain flour are in. This recipe also happens to be salt- and sugar-reduced, though loses nothing by it.
Once you get the hang of it, you will be able to churn out a loaf in under fifteen minutes, minus baking time. This time around, I slowed down to take pictures and let my lovely son Emmett help out in a few places. He loves grinding the nuts, though tends to get distracted.
If you're quick in the kitchen, you can start the oven pre-heating to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or if you're a little slower, maybe compile and prep some of your ingredients first:
Ok, the recipe:
- Thoroughly mash:
2 very ripe bananas (about one cup). I use frozen chunks (that I remember to thaw), so I sometimes have to guesstimate. If you have only perfect yellow bananas, doing this step first and adding 1-2 tablespoons of water to the mash will help it come to resemble the real thing by the time you're ready to fold in the bananas. Save for the last step.
- Chop or grind:
1/2 cup walnuts, or have your helper do it, then set aside.
- Measure and whisk:
1 1/3 cups flour. I use about half whole wheat.
1/2 teaspoon baking powder. Aluminum-free if you're into that.
1/2 teaspoon salt. The salty kind.
1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
- Measure and blend:
10 tablespoons milled flaxseed.
2 tablespoons cooking oil. (I prefer grapeseed)
The flaxseed exudes oil in the cooking process, and I find that blending a more conventional source helps with the texture.
1/3 cup sugar.
Mix.
1/3 cup sugar.
Mix.
You're almost done!
- Combine the flax, oil, and sugar with your flour/salt/leavening mixture from earlier.
At this point you might be weighing the big pile of dry ingredients against two eggs, some nuts, and some mashed bananas, and be tempted to add some water.
Be strong though, it'll come together when you...
2 lightly beaten eggs
Chopped nuts
Mashed bananas... and Voilà!
Now you have an incredible, creamy batter just begging to be smoothed flat into a greased loaf pan and baked for 50-55 minutes. At 350°, if you recall. A toothpick inserted near the middle of the loaf should come out clean or nearly clean.
Be strong though, it'll come together when you...
- Fold in:
2 lightly beaten eggs
Chopped nuts
Mashed bananas... and Voilà!
Now you have an incredible, creamy batter just begging to be smoothed flat into a greased loaf pan and baked for 50-55 minutes. At 350°, if you recall. A toothpick inserted near the middle of the loaf should come out clean or nearly clean.
Take out the steaming loaf with all due care, cool it as much as you want, slice, and devour!
If you are the decadent sort and just can't resist an extra dollop of butter on top, just remember that it'll still be healthier than the original recipe, and the omega-3 oils and fiber will be helping behind the scenes even with the normal amount of calories.
These loaves can keep for over a week if refrigerated, but why would you want to do that?
Let me know what YOU think.
