gluten-free, starch-free banana nut bread

My adorable husband has quickly adapted to my new situation  as a dependent woman. Making the bed, doing the house cleaning, buckling me up in the car, picking up heavy stuff, being the Strong Guy who can unscrew stubborn jar lids for me, no problem, he can handle all this … But playing taxi driver in order to go push a cart through the aisles of a food store, even organic, forget it!  He is completely in favor of women’s emancipation and just can’t figure out what motivates Saudis to forbid their wives to drive…  Anyway, so we tried limiting our food trips to just once a week. I had my doubts. And so did the bananas.

After several days they started looking mighty pitiful  in the fruit basket…. Whoever invented banana  nut bread was a genius!  

The winning flour combination  in my marble cake made me rethink my old recipe in its entirety.  I never translated it into English and won’t bother now.  With only two different sorts of flour and no starch,  less sugar (I omitted the crumble topping) this new gluten-free banana bread recipe is simpler.  Dear neighbors, I invite you to come and share it with us: will it be tea or coffee for you?

Ingredients

– 3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated… Apparently this can be done with only one hand, but here I chose to call on my devoted kitchen assistant ^^

– 125 g pure unrefined cane sugar

– 1 tsp organic vanilla extract (optional)

– 2 very ripe bananas, between 150 to 160 g net weight (xxx oz)

– 25 ml grapeseed oil

– 75 g chestnut flour, easier to find in Europe from what I hear

– 75 g rice flour

– 90 to 100 g organic unsulphured shelled walnuts, 50 g of which finely ground using a food processor, and the rest coarsely chopped

– ¼ tsp baking soda and some freshly squeezed lemon juice

+ 1 baking loaf pan, lined with greased parchment paper

IMPORTANT: my French loaf pan is a tad smaller than an American-size one: 7.5 cm x 24 cm x 7 cm ( 3 “ x 9½ “ x 2¾ “)

How to:

(Preheat the oven to 175 C / 345 F, traditional heat.)

1. Beat together yolks and sugar, until mixture turns pale yellow and happy bubbles form.

2. Successively add in tsp vanilla extract, walnut meal and chunks, oil, flours, then baking soda activated with lemon juice.

3. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (I usually add a pinch of salt to the whites) and fold into batter.

4. Pour into cake pan and bake for 55 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick or a thin knife blade.

out of the oven

Dear neighbors, I sincerely hope you can try this recipe. If you like banana bread and you can find chestnut flour, this gluten-free version will not disappoint you!

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