About this recipe
This moist banana bread (or should I say cake?) is perfect for breakfast, brunch, or afternoon tea. It's also a great recipe to experiment with: feel free to replace the flour with a gluten-free mix or almond flour, whole wheat flour such as spelt flour, etc.
If, like us, you often have bananas at home and suddenly discover one morning that they have turned to the dark side, this recipe will ease your anti-waste conscience. Use them immediately, or systematically collect the peeled bananas in the freezer to use at any time.
by @baking - Feel free to contact me via Instagram or Facebook.
Ingredients
- 180 g flour (also works with a gluten-free mix!)
- ¾ teaspoon sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- 70 g nuts (or omit these if you prefer a smooth, creamy result)
- 60 g softened butter (or 50 g coconut oil)
- 150 g cane sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 very ripe bananas
- 120 ml buttermilk (or milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice)
Preparation
- Preheat your oven (or even better: use the residual heat after baking for this recipe, so you'll have something tasty to enjoy with your coffee after dinner). We aim for a relatively constant temperature of around 180-200°C for about 50 minutes.
- If you like nuts, briefly roast your nut mixture of choice over the fire (in a cast iron or steel pan, for example). Be careful, stay close by, and stir frequently so that they brown nicely and don't burn.
- Beat the butter with the sugar until soft and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until smooth.
- Mash the ripe bananas in a large plate or oven dish until smooth, and add to the butter mixture. If you want to top your banana bread with half bananas, set one banana aside. Add the buttermilk and mix well. If you don't have buttermilk at home, you can leave milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice to stand for 10 minutes and use this as a substitute.
- Mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Coarsely chop the roasted nuts and add them to the mixture.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until you have a smooth batter.
- Grease your cake or bread pan with fat, or use baking paper or a silicone mold, and pour in the batter. Use a spatula to scrape out every last bit of batter.
- If you have set aside a banana, cut it in half lengthwise and gently press each half into the batter.
- Check the temperature in your Vonken oven and make sure the fire is extinguished. Want to avoid a crust that is too dark? Then make a little roof around the mold out of aluminum foil.
- Slide the mold into the oven, away from the coals, and close all valves and the door.
- After 25 minutes, check on the banana bread and turn it 180 degrees. After 40 minutes of baking, remove the aluminum foil.
- The banana bread should be ready after about 50 minutes. When you insert a knife into the batter, it should come out slightly moist and with a few grains on it—this will ensure that the banana bread remains moist. Bake for a little longer if you prefer a drier grain and texture.
- Remove the pan from the oven, but leave it to cool for at least 10 minutes before carefully removing the banana bread from the pan and leaving it to cool further on a wire rack.