Sunday Brunch Idea: Gluten Free Banana Bread (gluten free)

First, yes this is a pretty straight forward recipe, yet at the same time it was the first recipe I'd tried on my husband that he actually LIKED, so I had to post it.  Banana Bread has been one of "those" recipes...you know the ones you make different every time and pray that this time it'll taste enough like gluten containing banana bread that you don't end up eating the entire thing yourself because your husband says it "tastes funny"?  Yeah...this was one of those recipes for me.

Second, I've had a couple of e-mails asking about my Sunday Brunch posts.  I haven't forgotten about it, promise!  I quickly realized that there were only so many posts of pics of things like scrambled eggs and cereal you would want to look at before you got bored, so I figured I'd start doing highlights of recipes I've been making at Sunday Brunch (you know the stuff I actually MAKE instead of just prepare...like muffins I've tried instead of slicing up strawberries).  For "outsourced" (read not mine) recipes that I've been making, hang tight as I'm putting together a round up type of post for things I've made this month to be posted next week.  In the meantime...make banana bread!

Substitutions that might (or might not) work:  Since I know everyone out there now a days (so it seems) deals with allergies (oh do I relate!), I wanted to put some ideas for substitutions in here in case you might need to do so.  One, for the baking powder I used home made, but if you are recently corn diagnosed and want a more commercial option go with Hain's Celestial Baking Powder as it is made with potato starch, not corn starch.  Two, if egg allergic, I'm pretty sure (since the amount of eggs is relatively small) you could make a couple chia or flax eggs and use those in replacement of the eggs in the recipe without loss of quality.  If gum intolerant...I'd add another 1/2 a mashed banana (small one).  The bread will come out more dense, but I think it'll hold together okay.   If dairy intolerant, you can try using palm shortening in replacement of the butter, or a butter replacement, but I can't guarantee what it'll do to the flavor of the bread.

Gluten Free Banana Bread (gluten free)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Cup Brown Rice Flour
• 1/3 Cup Almond Meal (I use Honeyville)
• 1/3 Cup Sorghum Flour (I use Authentic Foods Sorghum Flour Superfine.  It's a bit more expensive, but SO worth the cost!)
• 1/3 Cup Tapioca Starch
• 1/2 tsp. Xanthum or Guar Gum (use guar gum if corn allergic)
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder (I use home made)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, or butter substitute, softened
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 medium bananas, mashed (about 1 3/4 cups) 

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (350 degrees if you are using a glass or cast iron pan).  Grease and place a parchment sling in a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and use a whisk to combine them well. 
3. In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer cream together the butter (or butter substitute) and sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in eggs and bananas and beat until everything is combined.  
4. Dump the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix well on medium speed until everything is combined.  
5. Turn batter into prepared loaf pan.  Bake about 50 minutes to one hour (it really depends on the moisture content of your bananas how long it'll take...usually I'm using a couple really over ripe bananas, so it takes about an hour for me), or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean.  
6. Let loaf sit in pan for five minutes and then take edges of parchment sling and remove bread to a tea towel or cooling rack (which I can never find room to set up mine, so I go with the tea towel option) to cool.  You can, if you want to cheat, slice off pieces while warm...not that I would know anything about that ;).

Enjoy!

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