Recipe: Banana Bread

Hello readers! I have wonderful news to share 🙂 Today, I made my first loaf of gluten-free bread…and it was delicious! And soft! and didn’t crumble when you sliced it! My gluten-eating boyfriend even loves it! I made it using the book Gluten-Free Baking with The Culinary Institute of America by Richard Coppedge Jr. If you’re picky about your breads (as I am), and Udi’s frozen gluten-free bread just doesn’t cut it for you, this book is a must buy. It was developed by some of the US’s premier bakers and is sort of the pinnacle of modern day innovations in gluten-free baking (see the Baking Basics page under Gluten 101 for more info on the intricacies of gluten-free baking. This book masterfully navigates these challenges). This bread came out very nicely, and I can’t wait to explore the book further! The banana bread could perhaps benefit from a bit more flavoring (maybe up the amount of bananas slightly…but this will affect bake time). Anyway, give it a shot!

To make the flour mix needed for the recipe, mix:

White Rice Flour......5.25 oz (3/4 cup)
Potato Starch..........14.25 oz (4 cups)
Guar Gum..............1.25 oz (3.5 tbsp)
Albumen (powdered egg whites, substitute normal egg whites if needed) 3.38 oz (1/2 cup) (a little less than 1 eggs worth)

Note: I reduced this flour mix recipe to 1/3 of the amounts called for here (which didn’t give me quite enough for the bread recipe listed below, but it was almost enough). The book offers these recipe mixes as general purpose flour mixes. It’s pretty in depth, so check it out if you want to know more.

Banana Bread Recipe

3/4 cup (6 oz) Butter, softened
1 cup (8 oz) Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/3 cups (8 oz) Flour Blend
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup (6.5 oz) bananas, mashed
2 tbsp (1.2 oz) Sour Cream
3/4 Cup (3.75 oz) walnuts, chopped (really not optional. A lot of the flavor comes from these).

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together softened butter (microwave for 20 seconds) and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add egg gradually and scrape down bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add all dry ingredients to wet ingredients at once; mix until just combined.

5. Add the mashed bananas and sour cream to batter and mix until just combined.

6. Fold in chopped nuts by hand.

7. Pour batter into a greased and lined loaf pan.

8. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted near the center of the loaf comes out clean.

9. Enjoy! 🙂