Old Fashioned Banana Bread

We’ve been experimenting with both gluten and gluten-free recipes, given the increased sensitivity to gluten and wheat that seem to be springing up these days. (Lots of thoughts on why and what to do about it!) But there are still those among us who are fine eating wheat. So we’ll post a gluten-free banana bread another time. In the mean time, this recipe is a great way to use up those couple of bananas that are about to get away from you from the bunch that ripened too quickly. You may use all honey, all maple syrup or a mixture. You may also use agave nectar, brown rice syrup etc. for all or part of the sweetener. I find that a mixture of liquid sweeteners is best.

yield: 1 loaf  |  prep time: 30 minutes  |  cooking time: 1 hour

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ingredients

• ¼ cup butter

• 1 cup whole wheat flour

• 1 cup unbleached white flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 2 eggs

• ½ cup honey

• ¼ cup maple syrup

• 1/3 cup milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 cup mashed banana (about 2)

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 cup nuts (walnuts and pecans mixed), chopped

directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Place the butter in an 8x5 bread pan and place it in the oven until it is fully melted.

2. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir well.

3. In another mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sweetener, milk and vanilla.

4. Mash the bananas and squeeze the lemon juice over them to prevent oxidation. Add the bananas and melted butter into the egg mixture.

5. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly, but do not over mix or the bread will have holes in it and will puff up in the middle.

6. Pour the batter into the bread pan (make sure the butter has coated the bottom and sides of the bread pan before adding batter. Use a little extra butter if needed).

7. Place the banana bread in the middle of the preheated oven and cook for about an hour. A skewer inserted into the center of the bread will come out clean when the bread is fully cooked.

8. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a baking rack for about 5 minutes. Loosen the bread from the sides of the bread mold and turn out to cool completely on the baking rack. Store in an airtight container. Freezes well.