Delia Smith’s banana loaf is my go to recipe when I have over-ripe bananas to use up. I tweak it depending on what ingredients I have in the house. I have replaced the walnuts with hazelnuts or even chocolate chips before and left out the citrus fruit peel when I haven’t had any. This gluten free banana loaf is adapted from Delia’s recipe.
Gluten free banana loaf
Ingredients
75g soft margarine or butter
110g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
The grated rind of one lemon and one orange. (I used 3 heaped tsp of mixed peel as I had this from my Christmas pudding)
60g ground almonds
170g gluten free self-raising flour
2tsp gluten free baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthum gum (optional)
2 tbsp milk
4 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
50g walnuts, chopped
Method
MethodPreheat your oven to gas 4, 180c. Grease a standard loaf tin. Place the margarine, sugar, milk and egg into a bowl. Sift over the flour, baking powder and xanthum gum if using, then the almonds. Beat this all together. Add the mashed bananas and beat again until thoroughly combined. Stir in the citrus rinds or mixed peel and nuts and place the mixture into your loaf tin.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 55-60 minutes, turning the temperature down a bit of it gets too brown.
This gluten free banana loaf is delicious warm or cold spread with butter and a nice cup of tea.
Delia’s original recipe can be found here.
You can find more frugal recipe ideas on this page.
Myra says
If you want to use even more banana(s), or do not have eggs, replace one egg with half a banana (up to a maximum of 3 eggs). I do it all the time, since I have someone in the family with an egg allergy (among other food items). Also, I freeze my bananas when they are turning too ripe. They can be thawed and used in baking, although, while they are thawing, they look less than appetizing.
Myra, from Winnipeg, Canada, where we got a dump of 15cm of snow in the last 24 hours and everyone is busy digging out.
laurie says
I have never cooked gluten free but you make it sound simple, looks lovely as well!
Jo Ann says
I make a gluten free banana bread with no xanthan (or other) gum. Instead, I use 1/2 teaspoon of arrowroot for every 1 cup of gluten free flour. (I like to use oat flour.) It also uses only 1/3 cup of sugar. I guess the sweetness of the bananas allows for less sugar.
ChickenladyJane says
I have yet to try oat flour. Does it make a heavy texture?
Jo Ann says
It doesn’t seem heavy to me. (No heavier than banana bread with wheat flour.) I love oat flour, but I am having a hard time with only using arrowroot and no gums in some of my gluten free recipes. They don’t seem to hold together well enough. It works perfectly in the banana bread. My hubby says the banana holds it together. He is so patient with my gluten free experiments!