Banana Bread

Another great gluten free recipe from Bob's Red Mill! This was the snack at Jewel's activity last night, and the kids were hungry for more.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour*
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon xanthan gum*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts**
1/2 cup raisins***

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 9x5-inch non-stick loaf pan. (For smaller loaves, use three 5x3 inch loaf pans.)

Cream together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl.

Add flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and cinnamon to egg mixture, alternating with bananas.

Beat until smooth.

Stir in nuts and raisins.

Batter will be somewhat soft. Transfer to pan(s).

Bake 9x5" loaf for 1 hour, 5x3" loaves for 45 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes in pan, then turn out to cool completely.****

*I did not have xanthan gum on hand. (I have to drive 45 minutes to obtain it.) Instead, I omitted the xanthan gum and did a one-to-one substitution of Bob's Biscuit and Baking Mix in place of the all-purpose baking flour. (Remember, the biscuit mix already contains xanthan gum.) The substitution was a success!

**Since I was baking this for children, I used a blender to finely chop the 1/2 cup pecans. Jewel is still unaware that I included the pecans, but it enhanced the flavor and the texture.

***I omitted the raisins.

****It's very important to cool this bread completely. I find that there is a distinct smell to the flours in the mix, but they aren't detectable once the bread has cooled. This isn't a bread that I would use while it is still warm. Like most banana bread recipes, it is actually much better on the second day.

Thanks for reading, and happy baking!