This banana bread always gets rave reviews, and today was no exception. The secret likes in the addition of ginger and orange juice to the batter. It’s subtle enough that you don’t notice it in the final product, but it gives a little depth to the flavor making the bread something special.
Ingredients
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1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2-3 medium bananas)
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1 satsuma or clementine orange
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1/4 teaspoon ginger
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1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
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1 cup whole spelt flour
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1 1/4 cup white spelt flour
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2 teaspoons baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon baking soda
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1/4 teaspoon salt
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2/3 cup sugar
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1/3 cup butter
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2 eggs
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1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour one bread loaf pan, set aside.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, mash the banana with the spices. Squeeze the juice from the orange into the banana mixture and mix well. Set aside.
4. In a small or medium-sized bowl, combine the whole and white spelt, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside.
5. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Add banana mixture and mix, then add flour mixture and mix just until flour is incorporated into the batter. Do not overmix.
6. Reserve a small portion of nuts to sprinkle on top of the bread, set aside. Stir remaining nuts into batter. Pour batter into greased and floured pan and sprinkle reserved nuts over the top of the loaf.
7. Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out mostly clean. Do not overbake.
Once the bread is done, let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out and place on wire rack to cool. Slice and serve with butter, tea and crumpets. If you have any left to save for the next day and you have a good bread box or some waxed paper, give that a try. If you wrap the bread with plastic, the bread will still be good the next day, but the crust will lose its crunch.
Personally, I try to avoid this problem by making sure there’s never any leftover bread. It’s a dirty job, but…
Enjoy!
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