Banana Bread

Is it breakfast? dessert? Bread? or cake? Who cares? This my essential banana bread recipe.

I have always judged a vegan recipe blog based upon its banana bread recipe. For over a year, I tried countless recipes with little success. Continuously my banana creations wouldn’t meet my high hopes and my dreams of fluffy vegan bakes were replaced by dense, chewy imposters. Until finally, due to an overload of bananas whilst I was living on a farm in Bocas, Panama, I focussed on perfecting vegan banana bread. Voila! after several attempts (and weeks!) I produced my favourite recipe!

Gone are the days of working out your jaw with every bite of vegan baking. But my secret ingredient might surprise you- vinegar!

After attempting various recipes with the same disappointing results I did what any millennial would do- asked Google for help. After searching and searching (and searching some more) I found the error of my ways. My enlightenment rose from veganbaking.net . I finally understood the differences between vegan and non-vegan baking. My baking problems were caused by a deficiency of air within the cake batter. This air makes the cake rise which in turn produces fluffy deliciousness. In traditional baking air bubbles are created by whisking , butter, sugar and eggs thus reproducing this process without eggs and butter seems impossible.

But vinegar is the answer!

Adding vinegar to a cake batter creates a chemical reaction with the baking soda which produces air. Because this reaction happens instantaneously as the vinegar meets the baking soda, there is no need to use the ‘creaming’ method of baking (whisking butter, sugar then eggs). Instead this method requires only two steps before baking: preparing the dry ingredients separately to the wet, then mixing both together and voila- fluffy vegan cakes!

For this recipe I drew upon my research whilst utilising all I had learned from my failed bakes. It was convenient that at this time I was living on a farm in Bocas Del Toro, Panama, and had an endless supply of bananas- in other words, the perfect living conditions to perfect banana bread. This simple recipe can be adapted easily by adding other flavours, or taken as it is to enjoy the deliciousness of bananas. I felt I could leave the farm with a sense of achievement after overcoming a major hurdle in my vegan baking adventure by perfecting this essential vegan recipe- after-all, all vegans need a good banana bread recipe!

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

250g Plain Flour

200g Light Brown Sugar

1.5 tsp Baking Powder

1 tbsp. Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

4 Medium-Sized Ripe Bananas (+1 for decoration )

120 ml Soy Milk (+1tsp Apple Cider Vinegar)

3 tbsp. Coconut Oil, melted

1 Flax Egg (1tbsp. flax seed meal + 3tbsp. water)

Optional:

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Light Brown Sugar

1 Ripe Banana

Method:

– Firstly, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F ,175 degrees C and line a loaf tin with baking parchment.

– Next, prepare the flax egg in a small bowl. Add the water to the flax seed and stir to combine. Set aside for at least 5 minutes until the mix is gloopy.

– In a large bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the sugar and mix.

– In a separate large bowl, mash the bananas.

– Next, measure 120ml of soy milk and add 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar and mix (this creates vegan ‘buttermilk’).

– Add the vegan buttermilk to the bananas with the oil and flax egg. Mix until combined.

– Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix as this will create a chewy texture. Mix, using a wooden spoon, not a whisk, until the flour is combined.- Pour the batter in the prepared cake tin.

– For optional decoration: slice a ripe banana in half, lengthwise.place each slice onto the top of the batter and lightly press the banana into the cake batter. In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top of the batter and the banana slices (this creates a crispy caramelised top.)

-Finally, place your banana bread into the oven and bake for approx. 1 hour or until an skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.