THE BEST GLUTEN FREE BANANA BREAD
We all love banana bread, (well almost all) and everyone has their own claim to fame recipe. When Tim, the CEO of Maskal Teff and I began talking about pastries made with teff, he was keen on a family banana bread with walnuts that his wife makes at home, so that got me inspired to fulfill his foodie dreams.
So I became obsessed with creating a gluten free ancient grain banana bread and started baking batch after batch to create a recipe that highlighted the power horse benefits of Teff. The goal was to develop a cake with a high inclusion of Teff that resulted in a moist cake without using complicated flours (no starches, no high glycemic flours, no gums either). I am a practical baker and I have always believed that the best recipe is the one you immediately want to bake and even sell.
The best part of this recipe is that you can get all the ingredients in the supermarket and make a cake that really stands out as a timeless banana bread.
I started to explore more of how teff flours worked in baking (in a high inclusion), and since I had already baked some previous recipes with teff (granola, brownies, vanilla cake), I knew through trial and error that this was not an easy task. Texture is such an important part in baking and even more so in healthy baking. There are 2 types of teff grains: ivory and brown: I personally love the Ivory flour most as it is easier to combine. So here is the secret tip of this recipe: (bring out your notebook!) I saw a banana bread recipe shared by Elissa Goodman where she combined equal parts of quinoa flour with almond flour and I thought just by reading the recipe what a brilliant idea! So I went and bought quinoa flour (I honestly could not remember the taste and texture of baking with it). I have been using sooo many ingredients lately. I made the recipe as is and did not like the taste of quinoa flour: it tasted like a moldy closet… but the recipe was a good start and I did love the idea behind it so I intuitively remembered my go to squash recipe (my version of Gjelina’s) and I recalled that a student made it with banana so I started playing with the flours and sweeteners like I do in my test kitchen. So here is the gold mine: don’t use teff 100 % it’s not a flour that can be used 1:1 meaning you can’t substitute 100 % of your regular flour with teff: it just doesn’t bake that well an tends to be grainy and dry your baked goods when you don’t balance it out with moist ingredients and I discovered through reading recipes online and comparing teff to quinoa (they bake similarly) that if you use half teff and half almond flour it works amazingly well, the texture is very smooth and it binds so well teff needs moisture and almond flour is the binding agent here. So the PRO tip here is substitute the flour in your recipes using ½ teff flour and ½ almond flour. No need to add gums or fillers!
This cake only gets better with time!
For those of you who are new to Teff (move over quinoa!) Teff is the new quinoa: it is the smallest grain in the world and it’s a perfect vegan protein. Teff adds a very interesting nuttyness to your recipes and it’s very versatile, once you start using it you will start opening your creative mind and discovering inventive ways to incorporate it into your life. When I have breakfast I look for great sources of fiber, protein, manganese, iron and calcium and teff is a nutritious power horse.
This is a sponsored recipe and all opinions are mine.
Don’t you just love this Vintage Nordic Ware Celtic Knot pan?
I owned one years ago, I sold it to pay for pastry school and really missed it! I had a hunch to post a photo to see if any of my neighbors had one they didn’t want and since I have been on an “ask and you shall receive” quest I did and my dear neighbor Mary responded and we swapped her cake pan for my signature trail mix cookies! A win/ win! So here is the banana bread with my favorite superfood spreads from Sarais Spreads: maca almond butter, and the chocolate date spread from The Date Lady.
- INGREDIENTS: MAKES: 1 9x5-inch loaf + a mini loaf - serves 8-12
- ¾ cup Maskal Teff Ivory flour (90 gr)
- ¾ cup blanched almond flour (114 gr)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder such as Rumford (at high altitude use half)
- ½ tsp baking soda (at high altitude use half)
- 1 tbsp ground Ceylon cinnamon (optional)
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil (I love California Every Day Olive Oil)
- ½ cup avocado oil Primal Kitchen
- 1 cup banana puree aprox 3 ripe bananas
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup toasted chopped walnuts or toasted pecans or chocolate chunks
- Powdered coconut milk to sprinkle over the cake
- Or almond butter or chocolate date spread from The Date Lady
- METHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 340˚F (this cake, like most cakes made with purees take way longer to bake and need to bake at a lower temperature, if you bake it at 350 F it will brown too much and get very dry and crusty on the outside and wet inside).
- Generously butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan + 1 mini loaf. Or you can make this in a Bundt pan or large savarin (which looks like a large donut).
- Whisk (or sift) together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together the sweeteners, oils, banana purée, and eggs. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined. (Adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients helps to prevent little dry pockets in the bottom of the bowl.) Fold in the chopped chocolate or nuts if desired.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 70 to 90 minutes for the larger pan (15 -20 mins for the smaller please note time depends on your pan + oven) or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in its pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run an icing spatula or a thin knife carefully around the edges, and invert the cake from the pan. Re-invert the cake so that it is right-side-up and let cool on the rack for another 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate.
- Notes: you can sprinkle the bread before baking with a mixture of: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cacao nibs, chopped pecans, walnuts and almonds
22 Comments
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This gluten free banana bread is awesom, my kids loved it. So practical and easy to prepare. Thanks for sharing such delicious and healthy recipes.
Thank you Marlen! I really appreciate you.
I have tried many of Vanessa Musi’s recipes and they are amazing. Not only healthy but delicious. I bet this one is a hit. Can’t wait to bake it.
Thank you for all your sharing Vanessa!
Thanks a million Susana! Really appreciate your lovely words and company!
OMG!!! This is one of the most amazing banana cake recipes ever!!! I love all the recipes from Vanessa, Im one of the biggest fan , I have the wonderful e-book and is amazing, took couple of classes with her and I love every minute, every explanation about each ingredient and how she is making the difference in the sweet world!! Im going to bake this recipe again today!!! Thank you Vanessa for make the sweet world healthy, tasty and for everyone !!
Oh Thanks so much Carmen! So happy you are my student and most of all an amazing friend!
OMG!!! This is one of the most amazing banana cake recipes ever!!! I love all the recipes from Vanessa, Im one of the biggest fan , I have the wonderful e-book and is amazing, took couple of classes with her and I love every minute, every explanation about each ingredient and how she is making the difference in the sweet world!! Im going to bake this recipe again today!!! Thank you Vanessa for make the sweet world healthy, tasty and for everyone !!
Thanks so much Fernanda! I am so happy you like them! Happy Baking
Vanessa is the best healthy baker! this recipe is as amazing as all she makes! thank you for sharing so many wonderful recipies!
I love all your recipes!!!
Thanks so much Fernanda! I really appreciate your kind words!
A delicious Gluten Free and Dairy Free Banana Bread recipe. Thanks for this healthy and very deliciosos recipes, Chef.
#vanessamusi you are the best!
This cake is delicious!!!Thank you vanessa for all the healthy and delicious recipes you have created
I’ve tried many Vanessa’s recipes before and l love them! This is not an exception. Highly recommended!
Thanks Chef for sharing this delicous recipe, I baked it today and my family loved it !!! I will bake it again this weekend for Mother’s Day and i am sure it will be a big hit!!
Thank you so much Monica! Really appreciate your kind words! Thanks for baking my recipes and I am so happy you loved it!
Looking to do this recipe but with an egg substitute. Do you have any recommendations for which substitution is best?
Hi Nina, Thanks for checking this recipe out. I haven’t made it vegan yet. When you have 3 eggs it’s harder to veganize. I would try flax egg: so for every egg use 1 tablespoon freshly ground flax + 3 tablespoons water. Try it and let me know. Bake in smaller cake pans that works best.
Sounds healthy and scrumptious! I am always searching for recipes like this BUT need to find a flour LOW in carbs, like almond flour – that will bind baked goods. Would almond flour work in place of teff – just by adding more almond flour?
🙂
Valerie
Hi Valerie, thanks for visiting my website! Appreciate it.
This recipe would be impossible to make low carb or keto: 1. because it uses Teff flour (it is made intentionally for using this awesome flour) but it’s not low carb. 2. It has banana (banana is NOT low carb) 3. It has Stir sweetener which is not low carb (remember every ingredient counts), my low carb recipes you can find on my Pinterest site (I made these for Bulletproof) check them here: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/vanessamusi/ (check out my Keto recipes). Keto baking is very tricky! I am doing an ebook and publishing it in July. Thanks!
This cake came out so well! My family enjoyed. I made a few adjustments however;
1. I only had 2 eggs so the third was a vegan ‘egg’, i tbsp ground chia+3 spoons water and let rest for about 15 minutes.
2. Used onlt 1/4 cup coconut oil. Ommited the avocado oil and instead added aout 4 tbsp aple sauce.
3. Used1/4 cup honey. Cake was sweet enough. Infact next time i may still reduce a bit as the bananas add sweetness.
Thank you very much for the recipe!
Hi Lil! Thanks so much for making my recipe and sharing your very clever adaptations! Love it!