Thursday, March 20, 2014

Easy Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

One of the kings of easy-to-make breads, banana bread is always a welcome treat into any vegans vegans diet. Most banana breads (especially store bought ones), contain dairy and/or eggs, but this recipe forgoes both, and still manages to come out of the oven smelling delicious.
Prep Time: 10 minutes approx.
Cook Time: 1 hour.
Ingredients:

2 cups of flour
3/4 of a cup of white sugar. Make sure to get unrefined sugar as the refining process may use bone charcoal.
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda.
3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of non dairy milk (e.g. soy/almond milk)
1 teaspoon of apple vinegar
4 mashed bananas (Should make approx 2 cups)
1/4 cup of canola oil
2 tablespoons of agave syrup (You can use maple syrup if you prefer)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
How To Cook:
Heat your oven to 180 C (350F)
Lightly oil a 9 by 5 inch loaf dish and set aside. I usually use olive margarine for this step!
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cinnamon and baking soda.
In a different bowl, mix together the milk, apple vinegar, and then set aside for about 2 minutes to combine. Add the 2 cups of bananas, oil and the vanilla. Use a whisk to combine well.
Add your dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and fold until well combined. It is important not to over mix in this step otherwise your load will become very dense.
Pour into the loaf fish and bake for 1 hour. You should be able to insert a toothpick into the middle of the loaf and it emerge clean. If the loaf is still sticky after an hour in the oven, leave it for another 10 minutes.
After removing from the oven, remove the bread from the tray, and allow to cool for 20 minutes on a wire tray.
Other Tips:
Feel free to add things like walnuts, raisins or even dairy free chocolate chips into the mix to give you the flavor you are after.
In some ovens, splitting the mixture in two and baking it in two trays allows a better consistency through the bread. Especially if your oven struggles to hold heat well.
As noted above, be sure when picking your sugar. Many cane sugars go through a refinement process using bone charcoal.
You can remove all sugar, and instead use 1/2 cup of agave or maple syrup. Agave is naturally sweet and often adds a rich flavor to your baking.
Going vegan can be a tough road at first, but it only gets easier with time. For more helpful tips, recipes and motivation, visit The Vegan Food Blog