Nutty Banana Quinoa Bread

2017 Update: Due to a problem with Photobucket, see here, there will be a lot of recipes without photos. I will be slowly redoing the recipe pages, as best I can, but many other posts will be impossible to replace. I’m doing this in my own time, while continuing to update the blog with new recipes and posts. If you’d like to donate, any amount appreciated, you can do so here. The site will always be free, the recipes will never be locked behind a paywall, but this is a lot of additional work. I’m not demanding or begging, just putting it there so if you feel like repaying my hard work you have that option. I don’t make any money from the site, all that I do here is to help others, I couldn’t charge for that.

Hey now, I’m just kidding, sorta. Twitter is fine for spreading these recipes, it’s just more like work when it comes to sharing ideas, for me at least. So, it’s me again, with bread again. It’s the third iteration of this bread. First was Flax, then Buckwheat and now Quinoa. The idea behind this bread was pretty simple: I wanted a bread to go with a bowl of high fibre cereal as my second meal of the day. My tea as I’ve always known it. I wanted a bread that was packed with good stuff, fruit, nuts, seeds, hemp is a seed, right?, probably, it also served as a way to use up some food. Hemp-seeds would spoil quickly so tossing a fair serving in this keep them from having the time to do so, peanut butter can dry out over time and banana can spoil when you least expect them to. Now I use these foods more than I used to and there’s less need to use them up. Still, this bread is very handy in that it’s a filling bread that can be eaten plain or have something spread on it. It can also be changed up quite a bit, it’s inspired countless other recipes. Variety is important to keeping on track when it comes to diet, for me at least.

The batter is a little thicker than usual, not by very much.

I suppose secondly, now this is where I try not to sound like a condescending jerk, but may fail regardless of all the good intentions in the world, it’s a far better alternative to store ought bread, to me at least. I’m not going to get into the whole time debate, I think we can all make more time if we are smart and efficient with time management, nor will I debate the cost value of multiple ingredients versus one pre-made loaf. Quite simply here you get a large loaf, packed with healthy and nutritious foodstuffs, customizable to a fair degree and tasty. I, just me, no one else, have used this bread for a long time. It’s kept me full, healthy and happy. Not just the bread no, but it’s been a vital part of the whole. I don’t want to attack anyone for choosing pre-made breads or mixes, instead I’ll just say: Give it a whirl. Try this bread out, make it up, it’s really easy, slice it and freeze it, it stores absurdly well, and see if you don’t prefer it in the long-run. I pre-empt myself a lot, but what I say here I say with a genuine heart and a half. It’s easy to fall into the idea that you can’t do something, especially if enough others follow suit. That one person ranting about doing this or that can seem absurd, most times they are, but I’m not talking extremes here, just a simple bit of advice. From a now healthy ex-fat person. I’ll always feel like the outsider when it comes to this kind of thing, I’m always going to be that guy that x’s when everyone y’s, but I’ve accomplished a lot and I’d be a fool not to share, no matter how hard it may be. I do what I feel best, no matter how much effort it may take and let me tell you it’s hard, no matter how long you’re at it it stays hard, you just keep at it. Now onto the bread.

It’s about double the size of my Quinoa Bread, but the same amount of flour.

Now, although it has banana in it it’s not your bog-standard banana bread as texture goes. It’s more like the Quinoa Bread, firm, springy and dry to the touch. I was surprised really, I thought it’d be sticky like the Vegetable Bread was. It’s probably thanks to the two eggs and the two egg replacers, banana being pretty handy, peanut butter is one I’ve heard of but never used in place of an egg. It holds together well too, you can even see the slices standing on end with no bending below, nor were there many crumbs. Crumbly bread doesn’t seem to find its way into my kitchen often, beats me why, I might just be lucky. The taste is a little milder, I actually found the banana less over-powering here than in the buckwheat version. It’s fine plain, but it’d be great with a little jam. It only uses a little maple syrup so it’s not really sweet. You could ditch the sugar entirely if you’d rather. There’s no real crust even if it looks as if there is, it’s evenly yielding all over. I prefer it that way when it comes to these breads, I can’t really think of any comparisons to explain them. I guess they’re just a little bit unique in that regard, not quite cakey nor all that bready.

Not much to say here really. Good ole quinoa flour is showing itself to be a pretty handy flour to have in the pantry. I’ve done quite a bit with it, I never know how useful these recipes will be, but I like to think they’re a little off the beaten path. No gums, starches, yeast and single flour recipes aren’t that common, at least not in my searches. I like them, they’ve served me well and will continue to do so. I’m just me, I don’t get much feed back about these recipes, but when I do it’s positive and I’ve continued to eat them so I guess that says something. I can’t help but repeat what I said before about feeling like an outsider, mind you I suppose that isn’t just me. This kind of lifestyle can be pretty extreme and that could make anyone feel cut off from peers. I don’t want to end this on a complaint, I’m just tossing it out there to get it off my chest. There was once a morbidly obese, unhealthy and unhappy person who ate the same as everyone else, then he decided to change and everything was thrown out, now he’s happier, healthier and no longer fat. I guess that’ll serve as enough for him for now. Hope, that’s all we can all have, right? The little bird that kept so many warm. Until later.

Nutty Banana Bread

Ingredients

200g Quinoa Flour
50g Hempseed
100ml Water
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Large Eggs
1/3 Tbsp Baking Soda
1 Ripe Banana, Mashed
100g Natural Peanut Butter or Other Nut Butter

Makes 12 Slices.
Can be frozen.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175c (No Fan).

2. Grease (With Butter or Olive Oil) and line a 6×3 inch loaf pan.

3. In a large bowl mix together the Egg, Maple Syrup and Olive Oil. Add the Quinoa Flour, Hempseed and Baking Soda and stir until combined, then add the Water and stir until a thick Batter has been formed.

4. Stir in the Mashed Banana until combined and finally stir in the Peanut Butter until everything has been blended together. Add more Water if Batter is too thick.

5. Pour batter into prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes, turning halfway if needed, until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

6. Cool in tin for 20 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Bonus Bread Pun time!

“What’s that?” Jamaican gingerbread. “Jamaican gingerbread?” Nah, I’ve already made it.

Boooooo! I’m almost out of Hokkaido Pumpkin, but this BW Gingerbread was a worthwhile use for it. I may try it with Quinoa Flour eventually. I just have to think about it to see if it’d work first. No sense wasting the flour, even if it was cheap, I’m still cheaper!

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