Daily, more and more of us are discovering the benefits of milling our own flour at home. This spiced banana bread is the perfect way to add real bread goodness to your life.
This is probably not the best way to begin this post, but I am nothing if not honest. Here goes: I hate banana bread. For some reason it tastes just like sickeningly-sweet over-ripe bananas to me, and I don’t like that.
Here’s another truth: freshly-milled flour is far superior to any shelf-stable flour sold in stores or online. Nutritionally and taste-wise it blows away the competition of any ready-to-eat processed baked good sold in stores, especially when you remove the excito-toxins that over-stimulate our brains and tastebuds.
Let me just climb down off my soap-box and share with you this simple recipe that I developed because I just wanted to find more ways to get “real bread” into my family’s diet on a regular basis. Yeast breads are an obvious change, but quick breads, like the recipe I am about to share here, can sometimes be hit or miss.
When I got my mill in 2014 and began my freshly-milled flour journey I had all the questions. I was concerned about wasting food if I had any significant fails. The truth is, my family will eat it if it is not an utter failure. If it is truly inedible, then please do not tell my pigs and chicken that. They think I am bringing them freshly-baked treats just for them. Turn burnt offerings into bacon when you must!
This recipe calls for a combination of Einkorn and Hard White Wheat. If you do not have either of these berries on hand, don’t worry, just mill what you have even if it’s just some Hard Red and Soft White. You know your taste preferences better than I.
Speaking of taste preferences, I crave intense flavor and love the intensity that spices add to baked goods. Here is my recipe for spiced banana bread that features fewer bananas and more spices than your everyday banana bread recipe.
Delicious Spiced Banana Bread
Equipment
- 1 Grain Mill
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Coconut, Avocado, or other healthy oil
- 1 3/4 Cups Freshly Milled Einkorn Flour
- 1 3/4 Cups Freshly Milled Hard White Wheat
- 1 1/4 Cups Sucanat or pure Cane Sugar
- 1 Tbs Baking Powder
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- 1 Tsp Real Salt
- 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
- 1/2 Tsp Ground Allspice
- 1/8 Tsp Ground Cloves
- 3 Large farm fresh Eggs, beaten
- 1 Cup Applesauce Can use any other home-preserved fruit butter, sauce, or jam.
- 1 Cup Banana, mashed Usually 2-3 bananas
Notes
Pro-baker’s tip (also no-stress tip): If you do not have all of these individual spices on hand, just substitute 1 1/2 T of Pumpkin Pie spice for all of the individual spices found in the recipe above.
Variations and Storage of Spiced Banana Bread
As pictured above, sometimes I like to bake in a round loaf pan or top the loaves with nuts. Basically I do anything to minimize the ripe banana taste that I do not prefer. This includes often using under-ripe bananas as well.
This recipe can also be prepared in muffin cups if you don’t have bread pans. As muffins they will need to bake 22-25 minutes.
To store you can wrap each loaf tightly and store it on your counter for up to 5 days. If you plan to keep it longer, place it in the refrigerator or freezer.