Lusting after Banana Bread

I was in Eurofresh the other day, I needed fresh beans sprouts and pea pods for the Pad Thai, and I saw they had bananas on clearance - 12 bananas for $ 0.99 - good deal!  I was sad for a minute but moved on. In my former life, I would have bought the bananas: they were brown and mushy, perfect for banana bread. I would have made 2 loaves of banana bread - one to eat and 1 for the freezer for Eric next weekend. Sigh! But not this time!! I was so sad!

I love banana bread! My whole family loves the banana bread. Every time I ask my kids or spouse , what they want me to bake - they want banana bread. My Mom made banana bread, and so did my Grandma. I made banana bread before kids and even before spouse. I really love MY banana bread. The kids get a package from me, or come home from college for a few days, they get a banana bread to eat and one for the dorm. Their friends love banana bread, too

So I was sad that the banana bread part of my life was over. Or was it???

I forgot about it that night as I made the Pad Thai, but later in bed, I kept thinking about banana bread.

The next day, I talked with Scott. Prefaced it by saying, I had gotten the dinner thing to a reasonable level, but never tried baking. ( As much as I love my cooking, and I do, I LOVE my baking ) before I got the next words out, he said why don' t you make GF banana bread??  That clinched it.. I was gonna try baking and make banana bread.

I decided to have a banana bread bake off.. where i would try different recipes to find one that worked gluten free.

I pulled out my much loved and worn old cookbook by James Beard called "Beard on Bread" and it opened to the right page. LOL The recipe had splotches of stuff on it, so one could tell it was used over and over again. BTW they still sell it on Amazon. WOW! After all this time! It was pre bread machine, etc too.

Anyway the 1 loaf  recipe went like this:


2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs ( room temp)
1 cup mashed , very ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
1/2 cups chopped nuts

Sift the flour with soda and salt in a mixing bowl.
In a larger bowl, Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar. Add eggs and bananas, blend thoroughly. In a small cups , combine the milk and lemon juice; it will curdle.

Beginning with the flour mixture, stir in a bit and the add a bit of the milk mixture, repeat until all have been mixed. ( I do this but hand, i don't use a mixer for any of this.). Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition. ( i tried once to put it all in at once, but it wasn't a good experiment) Stir in the nuts. ( I have never used nuts, so I skip this part)
Pour the batter into a lavishly buttered 9 x 5 x 3 in pan and bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour or so.


I have made this so many times,  and it has always turned out good. As an aside, before I had milk drinking kids, I used yogurt..it turned out fine!

Now I was gluten free, so I had to make some changes.

First and foremost, I checked my book and found that baking soda and baking powder was gluten free. ( just buy the right stuff) YEAH!! I was baking now!

So yesterday, it was cold and blustery in Chicago, so I made soup and banana bread. (I must have  channeled my inner Betty Crocker LOL) anyway I was positive that the bread would turn out, so I naturally doubled the recipe and made 2 leaves.


First I hit the store and bought the ingredients. then on to make the banana bread.

I used the following brands or substitutions:
King Arthur Gluten Free all purpose flour ( http://www.kingarthurflour.com/glutenfree/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand%20Plus&utm_content=King%20Arthur%20Flour%2dGluten%20Free&utm_term=king%20arthur%20gluten%20free%20flour&gclid=CLCR0L2lx68CFbMEQAodiw2PYg )

Arm and Hammer baking soda
Hain sea salt
Dominick's butter
Jewel Granulated sugar
egg beaters
Almond milk

Mixed according to the directions, but the batter was way to watery. So I added another cup of flour.

Next time I will use yogurt as the almond milk was the sweet kind and made the bread on the sweet side. Maybe I'll cut some sugar out too..HM I need to think on that!
Overall, it came out good!
Certainly smelled good in the oven and looked like real banana bread.

To put it succinctly,  the first loaf was gone in 1/2 hour of my pulling it out of the oven.
( Yes Scott helped me eat it)
and Scott felt it was a keeper and I should do it again and again and again.

I looked on the Internet, and will try some other GF recipes. There is one by stockpiling Moms and another by Musings of a housewife that I want to try, but I am open to others..

any suggestions??

After all I used 6 bananas and have the rest left over, so what is a "girl" to do but try another banana bread recipe! :-)