Gluten Free, Dairy Free Banana Bread

I almost thought I had lost my food “mojo” or there was a major funk happening until I made this Gluten Free, Dairy Free Banana Bread, also refined sugar free.

Stress can do some strange things at the best of times but it wasn’t until my dd, who is in the throngs of HSC trial exams started demanding (in the nicest possible way) food of any description that would satisfy and sustain the long hours of study she was enduring, that I was faced with the fact that I’m facing my own mini crisis of “I don’t want to cook”! Since cooking has been such a big part of my life and is a treasured skill that reminds me of my mother, auntie and grandmother I was, to say the least, a little beside myself when I started displaying symptoms of “cooking burnout”. It’s happened before, a few years ago, but not to this extent. I’ve even had joyful thoughts of being able to throw cheese and crackers on a plate and serve it for dinner! How easy would that be – totally impractical since I went dairy free (again) a few weeks ago and so is my dd. Not to mention that cheese and crackers are hardly a substantial, well balanced or nutritionally dense meal.

Coconut Oil Post GF DF Banana Choc Bread

Back to the Gluten Free, Dairy Free Banana Bread. I needed a plan, even if I wasn’t feeling it. I was out buying fruit and veg and found buckets of bananas going at bargain prices, something to do with a heap of rain in Northern Queensland that affected the banana crops. Perfect I thought I’ll make banana bread, but what recipe am I going to use. I have had several failed attempts at Gluten Free Banana Bread in recent months which should of put me off for ever more, but I was determined to succeed and overcome this funk. Thankfully, after 1 more semi-failed attempt, I succeeded and it was with this recipe. Gluten free flours are a slight bane in my existence to the point that I swing between many combinations of GF flours to get the right consistency, taste but also which ones can be most tolerated by me and my dd. I love coconut flour and highly recommend it as a great GF alternative, but my dd finds it too hard on her digestive system. High fibre products such as coconut flour can sometimes be troublesome for folk that suffer with digestive or gut issues so making a bread entirely with Coconut flour doesn’t usually suffice, however reducing the amount and combining other flours can often work provided that the right texture can be achieved. I have used this combo of flours before in pancakes and used sorghum flour in these fabulous scones but these flours failed bitterly in my previous attempts at banana bread.

Finally I found the perfect combination of flours that work beautifully in this Gluten Free, Dairy Free Banana Bread. Dense enough that you can toast it but still light enough. And if you throw in the optional dark choc pieces then you have the perfect baked item for morning or afternoon tea.