I am a huge fan of quick breads and am more than happy to find overripe bananas on my kitchen counter, as that means it's time to make a loaf of banana bread. Since I'm currently researching alternatives to wheat flour in my diet, I decided my latest bunch of overripe bananas would be good to use in an experimental loaf made with coconut flour. From what I can tell from my early stages of gluten-free baking research, the key to baking a gluten-free quick bread is to use a smaller pan, because the bread does not rise as much as one made with all-purpose flour. Apparently the gold standard (at least in paleo circles) is a 7.5" pan, but I found a much-cheaper 7.75" pan on Amazon, so opted to go with that.
Coconut flour is made from dried, defatted coconut meat. It is high in fiber and low in digestible carbohydrates. Due to its high-fiber content, baking with coconut flour requires a careful balance of dry and wet ingredients, because the flour tends to absorb a lot of liquid. Recipes that use coconut flour typically have a larger ratio of wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
The resulting banana bread is incredibly moist and, in my opinion, tastes even better on day two. The coconut flavor is quite subtle, letting the bananas shine -- as they rightly should in a banana bread recipe!
Gluten-Free Banana Bread (printer-friendly version)
makes one 7.75" loaf
3 ripe, peeled bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1 egg white
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut flour, sifted
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 7-inch loaf pan with parchment paper or spray liberally with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mash the peeled bananas until smooth. Stir in the eggs, egg white, and vanilla extract.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the sifted coconut flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes to allow the coconut flour to absorb the liquids.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepped loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the loaf comes out clean.
6. Remove the bread from the oven and let the bread cool in the loaf pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then carefully remove the bread from the pan and let it cool completely. Store any leftover bread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
(adapted from this Comfy Belly recipe)
makes one 7.75" loaf
3 ripe, peeled bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1 egg white
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut flour, sifted
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 7-inch loaf pan with parchment paper or spray liberally with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mash the peeled bananas until smooth. Stir in the eggs, egg white, and vanilla extract.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the sifted coconut flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes to allow the coconut flour to absorb the liquids.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepped loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the loaf comes out clean.
6. Remove the bread from the oven and let the bread cool in the loaf pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then carefully remove the bread from the pan and let it cool completely. Store any leftover bread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
(adapted from this Comfy Belly recipe)
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