Oil - Free Banana Bread

Gluten Free Oil Free Banana Bread

This gluten-free, vegan banana bread is so moist that you would never guess that it is made without any oils. The little bit of fat that it does contain, comes from ground flax seeds. It is also nearly sugar free as well -- using just a tiny 1/4 cup of maple syrup (make sure you use the REAL stuff -- not maple flavored corn syrup!) to make a very large pan of banana bread. The rest of the sweetness comes from whole dates, whole bananas and stevia extract. The stevia is not an absolute must here -- but it does really improve the taste.



This recipe is adapted from the very first cookbook I ever bought -- The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. In spite of the fact, that the Farm recipes are loaded with oils, white sugar and white wheat flour -- I STILL love this book! It has a fabulous section describing how to make your own tofu, and tempeh, and features so many of the basic comfort food recipes that I sometimes want to make. I learned long ago to use it only as a guide -- and to substitute (in a BIG WAY) for all of the ingredients that I no longer keep in my kitchen. So here is my adaptation of their banana bread -- but WAY healthier and still delicious. Amazingly this recipe does not require xanthan gum in order to stay together -- and by grinding your own millet, you not only save money (organic millet is cheep!) but are assured that you are using a whole grain product. The recipe calls for a "milk" I use fresh raw almond milk or cashew milk (recipes in my book) which I usually have on hand, but you could use any vegan milk here -- all are free of cholesterol -- or even water would probably work fine if you really want to have a minimum fat. I typically do not have jarred applesauce on hand -- instead I just put whole apples (minus the core -- and remove skins if not organic) into the blender and blend until the consistancy of applesauce)



Ingredients:



2 cups millet flour (put whole millet in your blender and blend until powdery then measure)

1 cup sorghum flour

1 cup ground flax seeds (golden flax has milder taste -- I recommend it)

1 tsp Rumford baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt



1 cup of apple sauce or blended apples (put apples in blender until like sauce then measure)

3 cups blended bananas (peal and blend -- then measure about{ 4-6 bananas})

1/2 cup of ricemilk, soymilk or almond milk -- even water --your choice

1 cup chopped dates (remove pits, chop, THEN measure)

1/4 maple syrup

1 TBS pure vanilla extract. (Costco sells a very economical gluten free vanilla extract!)

2 tsp liquid stevia extract (I get the best results with Sweetleaf Stevia Clear)



Dirctions:



1) Preheat the oven to 3:50 F

2) Mix the first six (dry) ingredients together in a large bowl

3) Put the remaining 7 ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth

4) Line a 9 x 12 baking pan with parchment paper or else use a tiny amount of oil (less then 1 tsp to oil the bottom and 1 inch up the sides.

5) Add the wet to the dry and mix just enough to moisten the dry and remove lumps -- DON'T over mix!

6) Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven for 50-60 minutes until it just starts to brown.



The banana bread is best right out of the oven -- but you must store leftovers in the refridgerator due to it's high water content! We like to pop the chilled banana bread into the toaster oven before eating it.