Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Soy-Free Corn-Free Banana Bread

Once you go gluten-free with children, you must have recipes for banana bread. Bananas are always in season. Bananas are low in salicylates. Bananas are nutritious and always on the list of the “clean fifteen” foods that are low in pesticides. In addition your kids will eat them, they come in convenient single serving sizes with their own wrapper, and they do not need to be washed. My house is never without bananas.

Occasionally my son is totally and completely sick of bananas which means we have leftover bananas. Now often they go into banana pancakes, but honestly, banana pancakes are a hassle to make, so I started to try to make a banana bread. How hard could that be? HAH! So a few years and a dozen revolting gluey banana breads later, I finally have one that removed all of the major allergens. It doesn’t require any gums or stabilizers so you can just use plain brown rice flour. White rice flour is OK but not as good. Substitute palm oil for the coconut if you need to avoid coconut. Add pecans or walnuts for extra protein if you can handle tree nuts. Although the recipe will work with eggs, it becomes more moist and flavorful without them…go figure. The egg replacer we use does contain potato starch so its not going to work for anyone with a nightshade sensitivity, however if you make the version with eggs then it is free of nightshades.

Ingredients
2 cups brown rice flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten OR 2 tablespoons Ener-G egg replacer combined with 6 tablespoons water
Between 2 and 2 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (about five large)

Equipment
Electric mixer
Potato masher
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Large bowl

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F
Mix rice flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Beat oil and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer
Add eggs and bananas and beat until incorporated (about 30 seconds)
Add dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and beat until combined (less than one minute)
Bake for one hour or until done when tested with a skewer. It may take 75 minutes, it just depends on the oven
Note that the loaf will be quite dark on top

I like to serve it warm with coconut milk ice cream.