This recipe is for a good friend of mine who insists ‘I can’t cook’. This banana bread recipe is made with whole wheat flour and walnuts and has a lovely depth of flavour. And if you can’t cook – your five year old should be able to make this bread (with appropriate adult supervision). It’s a great introduction to the joy of whole grain baking.

We’re back to my retirement quest – cooking every recipe in the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook. As a quest, it’s completely lacking in organisation and I’m randomly skipping through the book and baking what looks good. Today I was inspired by a request for ‘recipes for someone who doesn’t cook’ and the Davinator’s excess banana purchases. This banana bread recipe is best with the ultra-ripe about to be thrown away bananas – you know that icky black mottled soft to the touch banana. If your bananas aren’t ripe enough, put them in a brown paper back with an apple. Fold the top of the bag closed and leave it overnight. This should convert a ripe banana to an ultra-ripe one.

Basically, the spotty banana to the left is just about ripe enough but if you can bear it – ripen it until more black than yellow. (I forgot to take pictures of the ultra-ripe bananas before I peeled and mashed them). Enough musings on bananas – on to the recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 60 grams (2 ounces) chopped walnuts
• 110 grams (4 ounces) unsalted butter
• 105 grams (3.75 ounces) brown sugar (light or dark)
• 3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking SODA not baking powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 340 – 350 grams (12 ounces) ripe mashed banana (4 or 5 normal sized European bananas – 3 or 4 normal sized American ones)
• 85 grams (3 ounces) honey
• 2 large eggs
• 230 grams (8 ounces) whole wheat flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (160C fan) or 350F. Prep your loaf pan or pans. I use two small (450 gram) (1 pound) loaf pans and line them with paper. If you’re using a single loaf pan it needs to be a genuine 9 x 5 or 900 gram (2 pound) pan. I prefer to line with paper but you can also lightly grease with butter.
2. Microwave the butter for about 45 seconds in a microwave safe bowl. Set it to one side.
3. Chop the walnuts. I go back and forth on chopping nuts. This is a small quantity and both taste and texture say ‘chop by hand’. Leave ready in a small bowl.
4. Peel the bananas and mash with a fork or a potato masher.
5. Combine the butter, sugar, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Beat well by hand.
6. Add the bananas, honey and eggs, stir well to incorporate into a smooth batter.
7. Add the flour and the chopped nuts and again stir until smooth.
8. Divide between the loaf pans. If using two – you want about 480 to 490 grams of batter in each pan.
9. Two loaves – bake for 40 minutes. At about 30 minutes check the loaves and if they seem too brown on the top, cover loosely with foil. Using your trusty thermometer – the internal temperature should be around 85C.
10. One loaf – bake for 50 minutes. At about 35 minutes check the loaf and cover with foil if the top is looking brown and dry.

This bread smells absolutely delicious when cooking. Try and let it cool before cutting. Enjoy and bake on!

It’s called  a quick bread because the leavening agent is baking power but it is genuinely quick to prepare,  to cook and to clean up.  And if your vegetable garden goes into courgette overdrive – you can use the courgettes and make the family happy at the same time.

Whole wheat courgette bread – zucchini for los Americanos.

Ingredients

Dry:

• 225 grams whole wheat flour
• 120 grams plain white flour or bread flour (NOT self raising)
• 150 grams caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wet:

• 2 large eggs
• 170 mls milk
• 60 mls vegetable oil (corn or rapeseed, not olive oil)

Other:

• 350 grams grated courgette
• 85 grams raisins
• 60 grams chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (see top tip below)

Instructions

Preheat your oven.  175C non-fan/160C fan.  Prepare a large loaf pan (900 gram/2 lb/23x13cms) or two small loaf pans (450gram/1lb/12×6).   Either grease with a hard fat (butter or lard) or line with paper.

Whisk together the dry ingredients (from whole wheat flour down to nutmeg) in a large bowl.  Make sure they are well mixed.

Prep the ‘other’ ingredients and put them in a bowl (don’t need to mix).

A top tip; you can buy lemon zest and keep it in the freezer or use Dr Oetker or another substitute.  Sometimes its just too much to have to have a lemon in the fridge to zest.   Another suggestion; if you do a lot of baking with nuts and vegetables, you might want to get a mini-chopper like this one.   No, I’m not sponsored by Amazon, it’s just where I do my appliance shopping.  I find it much easier to use and to clean up if I’m not working with big quantities.

Put all the ‘wet’ ingredients in a bowl or a big mixing jug and whisk to blend smoothly.  Pour the wet into the dry and mix well.  Then add the ‘other’ ingredients to the mixture and stir until incorporated.  Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and place in the oven.

Bake for an hour and then check the temperature (if more than 90C you’re done and out it comes).  If you don’t have a thermometer, if the top looks wet and wobbles, it’s not done.   It’s unlikely to be done after an hour – tent the top loosely with foil and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven when it’s done, cool in the pan for 15 minutes or so.  Then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Top tips and gadgets

Loaf pan liners are very convenient and speed prep, cooking and clean up.  I use an ice cream scoop with a trigger to fill the pan.  The mini-chopper comes into its own for chopping nuts – buying pre-chopped nuts is expensive plus they get stale. But chopping your own by hand is too time consuming for me.   Prepared lemon zest is also a big time saver and means you can keep lemons in the ‘pantry’ (zest and bottled juice)  rather than needing fresh for baking.

Recipe count

47 quick bread recipes; 4 completed! OMG what was I thinking.