Sweet banana bread recipe with gluten-free Buckwheat

Considered a superfood, buckwheat’s most impressive quality is it’s naturally gluten-free content partnered with an intense source of nutrition. Rich in protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals, it’s the perfect replacement for flour and every celiacs dream! We sounded the alarm on the many health benefits of buckwheat not too long ago right here on our blogspot, where we presented our favourite and most inventive buckwheat recipes. To catch up on that first, click here.

Continuing right where we left off, and keeping the buckwheat trend alive and kicking, we dare you to test this practically gourmet sweet bread recipe. Not only is this bread one of the most uniquely delicious baked goods you’ll ever have the pleasure of discovering, but it works perfectly as a breakfast meal, school snack, after dinner dessert, 100% gluten-free birthday cake. The best part of it all is that it’s really good, fresh, unprocessed food. Brimming with top quality ingredients renowned for their individually epic health benefits, this recipe truly takes the cake.

Banana Buckwheat Loaf

Yields 8 servings



Recipe by Carla Oates, as seen in “The Beauty Chef” Cookbook – available online. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (118ml) coconut milk
• 1 tsp unpasteurised apple cider vinegar
we use this one
• 4 overripe medium bananas
• 
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup macadamia oil, plus extra for greasing 
buy here
• 
2 Tbsp maple syrup, plus extra for glazing
• 
1 tsp vanilla bean powder (you can use vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract in place of)
• 
3/4 cup (96g) buckwheat flour
here’s a couple of options:
  1) Doves Farm Wholegrain Buckwheat Flour
  2) Wholefood Earth Organic Buckwheat Flour

• 
3/4 cup(96g) almond meal
• 
2 tsp chia seeds
• 
1 1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
• 
1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 
1/2 tsp baking soda
• 
Pinch of salt (I used pink Himalayan but any will do) 
buy here: Silk Route Himalayan Pink Salt Spice Grinder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (176ºC). Lightly grease and line an 8×4″ (20x10cm) loaf pan with parchment paper.
2. Combine the coconut milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Mash three of the bananas in a medium bowl, making a thick puree. Add in the eggs, macadamia oil, maple syrup, and vanilla bean powder.
4. In a separate medium bowl, combine the buckwheat flour, almond meal, chia seeds, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
5. Add the dry ingredients and the milk mixture to the banana blend and stir to make a smooth batter. Pour into the prepared pan.
6. Peel the remaining banana and cut in half lengthwise. Lay the slices, cut-side up, on top of the batter. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
7. Brush the top of the hot cake with a bit of maple syrup.
8. Turn the loaf onto a rack to cool completely and slice to serve.

This banana bread is quite like any other you’ve probably ever tasted… or made. And although there are quite a few finicky ingredients, it’s really worth the wait and preparation. Albeit most of the wait is just for the bananas to turn that particular hue of brown. When I first tried this recipe I started off by ordering most of the rarer ingredients online. I don’t know about you, but I’m not too familiar with seeing buckwheat flour, himalayan pink salt, macadamia oil or vanilla bean powder on your everyday grocery store shelves. If you’re based in the UK, Waitrose or a specialty health food store might be your best bet, but amazon prime works well enough for me and means I didn’t have to go scouting about, or call up various shops to ask if they stock my rather uncommon ingredient requests.

If you’re not too familiar or comfortable with online shopping, I would definitely recommend calling the supermarkets or food stores you intend on going to ahead of time, just to ensure they stock what you’re after. The only thing worse than spending all that time cooking and cleaning in the kitchen is having to spend precious time and energy on a wild goose chase for some obscure specialty that you haven’t even heard of before. I do promise this recipe makes it all worth it in the end though!

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