Banana Flour Bread is delicious and healthy way to treat yourself without any guilt. This amazing gluten free bread is made with quinoa flour, green banana flour and dried apricots. Hands down, the best banana bread without using actual bananas! This banana flour recipe is sweet, moist, and with plenty of banana flavor. It’s a classic comfort food that you can serve for breakfast or dessert.
Green Banana Flour Bread equals Resistant Starch
I made this wonderful banana flour bread because I wanted to incorporate various forms of resistant starch into my diet. Why? In order to diversify the intestinal bacteria flora that is a cornerstone of healthy body. I already eat various gluten free breads on the regular basis, especially this quinoa bread, but wanted to diversify even further.
And as a result I’ve been having 2 slices of this green banana flour bread each morning with my eggs and my super tasty gluten free chocolate chip cookies made with almond flour. I just love it!
Our modern Western diet is very limited in resistant starches and fiber. As a matter of fact westerners get a lot less fiber and starch in their diets than those in the developing countries. We tend to eat high protein diets that in the long run will only create more work for the gut.
It’s very important to feed beneficial bacteria residing in our guts with prebiotics and resistant starch (green bananas, lentils, potato starch and green banana flour). This will create the right environment in the gut (small intestine in particular) which is inhospitable to unwanted bacteria. This right environment, in turn, will lower excessive fermentation and inflammation in the small intestine and upper digestive tract and as a result improve our digestive health!
All are great reasons to make this green banana flour bread. According to Dr. Axe it’s one of the top foods for your gut as you can see in this article.
Variations of banana flour bread
- Add dried figs instead of dried apricots in the same proportion.
- Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.
- Increase the proportion of banana flour to 1 cup instead of 1/2 cup to up the resistant starch amount.
- Make it with chocolate chips. You can simply follow the recipe for gluten free chocolate chip bread.
Tips on making banana flour bread
- Make sure that you batter is not too thick. It should easily slide off the spoon into the loaf container. In other words, you shouldn’t be shoving it there with great difficulty. It should easily flow off your spoon.
- Start checking at 40 minutes by placing a toothpick in the middle of the bread. Do not go over 55 minutes of baking time.
- Brown sugar is the best kind of sugar to use in this recipe. Please do not substitute with regular granulated sugar.
- Do not add less sugar than what the recipe calls for. Doing so will result in less cohesive green banana flour loaf. you need that sugar for the right molecular structure of this green banana flour bread.
To make it egg free
To make it egg free, use chia seeds instead of eggs. When I made my banana flour bread with chia seeds I added 1/3 cup chia seeds + 1 cup water. I then reduced quinoa flour about from 1.5 cups to 1 cup and did not use orange juice.
Do not tinker with sugar
Many baking disasters can be traced to one little mistake: tinkering with sugar. Using less (or more) sugar than a recipe calls for (or even substituting honey for table sugar) can really affect your results.
This union of sugar and liquids affects the texture of baked goods in two important ways. It keeps baked goods soft and moist. The bond between sugar and liquids allows sugar to lock in moisture and creates tenderness.
Make sure to use dark brown sugar in this quinoa flour bread recipe as well. Why? Because dark brown sugar has molasses that will caramelize during baking and turn into more moisture as well.
What is banana flour?
- Banana flour is not your typical flour.
- The flour is beige-gray in color.
- Even though it doesn’t smell like banana, it does have a bit of a banana flavor.
- It’s very powdery and will disperse everywhere, so be careful when opening the container and measuring it out for use.
- Banana flour blends well into smoothies. Simply add a bit of extra liquid to avoid too much thickness.
- Use 3/4 cup banana flour for every cup of wheat flour in a recipe.
What does the banana flour batter look like?
More gluten free bread recipes:
Quinoa Bread with Sunflower and Pumpkin Seeds
Red Quinoa and Chia Bread
More gluten free cookie recipes:
Quinoa Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Buckwheat flour Double Chocolate Cookies
Cranberry Almond Flour Cookies
Green Banana Flour Bread with Apricots
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried apricots (5 oz.)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs (large)
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 2/3 cup orange juice
- 1 tsp lemon juice (fresh)
- 1 1/4 cups quinoa flour
- 1/2 cup green banana flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Prepare 8 1/5 x 4 1/5 inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Chop your dried apricots coarsely. Set aside.
- Wet ingredients: In a large bowl, beat together oil, eggs, dark brown sugar, orange juice, lemon juice. Set aside.
- Dry ingredients: Add quinoa and green banana flours, baking soda and sea salt together in a bowl. Mix.
- Add dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix well. Add apricots and mix into the batter.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Hi!
Can I use all purpose gluten free flour instead of quinoa flour?
Yes, you can!
Hi, can I substitute dark brown sugar with coconut sugar?
Yes!
Not a fan apricots. How about dates or another dried fruit?
Dates will be great – they are more moist and moisture is our friend here since banana flour is so dense.
I know it says to use brown sugar.. but has anyone tried maple syrup? If so, how did it go? Thanks!
Maple syrup will be completely fine. I use it all the time in gluten free baking with different types of flour. This is supposed to be a moist bread, so it will work perfectly. Use about 1/3 cup.
Hi, I’m new to the banana flour. If I just used all banana flour, how much less than quinoa flour would I do?
I think I would add an additional egg, and maybe use 1/2 cup less (total). You will see when it’s too much because banana flour will absorb the liquids. The batter should be relatively moveable so you can pour it into the pan. It should wiggle if you shake the pan or a bowl.
Is there a suitable NON-grain substitute for quinoa flour?
I just thought about a third option. I used to use buckwheat flour a lot to make brownies, cookies and crepes. I think it will be fine here instead of quinoa flour as long as there is an additional egg. It also requires more moisture. Buckwheat is a seed, not a grain because from flowering family and is not considered grass. Only members of the “grass family” can be classified as grains.
Is there another option in place of quinoa flour? I have a family member who cannot consume grains. Thank you!
You can make it using banana flour only. Just keep in mind that it is very dense and will require more moisture if used by itself. That means using less than what the recipe calls if substituting for quinoa flour. And add an additional egg as well. You can also use chickpea flour instead of quinoa flour as an option. I used it before, again in smaller proportions.
Thank you for the suggestion! I will experiment with your recommendations!
Hi, Can I used chia instead of regular eggs?
Yes – I made it with chia seeds last week.Make sure to completely cool it off before slicing. Refrigerating for 2 hours is even better.