Quartz 4

Banana bread investigation

5 min read

What is the best (vegan) banana bread recipe? Let’s test different ones and rate them.

1. Rainbow Plantlife

https://rainbowplantlife.com/best-easy-vegan-banana-bread/

Ingredients

  • 90 mL aquafaba
  • 3 medium-sized very ripe bananas (around 300g)
  • 90 mL oat milk
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 75g neutral-tasting oil
  • 115g organic brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 240 to 250g all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 176°C. Arrange a rack in the bottom third of the oven. Line a 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the long sides to form a sling.
  2. Pour the aquafaba into a medium bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer, whip the aquafaba on medium speed for 45-60 seconds until uniformly foamy.
  3. Wipe out the bowl used for the aquafaba. Add the three bananas to the bowl and mash with a fork until smooth and no lumps remain (or, for a more rustic banana bread, leave a few chunks in). FYI: the 3 mashed bananas should weigh around 300g.
  4. Stir the lemon juice into the oat milk and set aside. This is the vegan “buttermilk.”
  5. In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and oil. Mix using the electric mixer or a whisk until well combined.
  6. Add the whipped aquafaba and mix until well incorporated. Add in the vegan “buttermilk” and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the mashed bananas and mix until well incorporated.
  7. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon to the wet ingredients. Switch to using a silicone spatula (if you don’t have one, use a large wooden spoon). Gently stir until the ingredients are just barely combined. It’s okay if you can see a few traces of flour.
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top of the batter using a spatula or spoon.
  9. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes. Since every home oven differs, I like to start checking at 45 minutes. The banana bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the center top at a slight angle comes out a few moist crumbs. If there’s runny batter, it needs more time.
  10. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Then remove the bread from the pan and cool on the rack for at least 20 to 30 minutes before slicing (the bread is still cooking and setting up, so don’t slice too early).
  11. To store, place completely cooled banana bread in an airtight container or wrap tightly in plastic and leave on the counter for 2-4 days (if using decorative banana topping, the topping a will start to brown after day 1). You can also freeze the banana bread. If you freeze the whole loaf, allow it to defrost on the countertop for 2-3 hours. If you freeze individual slices, defrost on the countertop for 20-30 minutes.

Verdict

7/10 Very nice and very cakey, almost too fluffy. The texture is like store-bought cake, very fine pores and bouncy. I’m missing a bit the “roughness” or breadiness of banana bread. Would be nice with some chunks or some whole grain in it. It does get quite sticky in the mouth, don’t know if that’s the bananas or the aqua faba, or something.

2. BBC GoodFood (adapted)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-banana-bread Also, incidentally, almost the exact same recipe as here: https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/vegan-banana-bread/

Ok, already made the “mistake” of adapting a recipe and not sticking 100% to the instructions. I’ll write down the ingredients how I used them, and not the original recipe.

Ingredients

  • 3 bananas - I used frozen and thawed and poured away the excess liquid
  • 75 g vegetable oil - (actually the original recipe said 75 mL… I used half coconut fat and half linseed oil
  • 100 g brown sugar
  • 225 g flour in total - I used about 150 g normal flour, 50 g Graham flour and 25 g oat flakes for some bite
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 50 g dried fruits or nuts (optional) - I used 30 g dried cranberries and 20 g chopped walnuts

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a loaf tin and powder with flour.
  2. Mash the banana with a fork and mix with the sugar and fat.
  3. Mix together the other dry ingredients.
  4. Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir well until no dry lumps are left. The batter didn’t flow, it had almost a (wet) cookie dough consistency.
  5. Fill batter into the tin and bake for 20 min, then cover with aluminium foil and bake another 20 min.

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Verdict

8/10 I gave it higher points than the previous recipe, because it had the heartiness that I like in a banana bread. Unfortunately it didn’t rise much, which could be due to the flour mix that I used, a lack of liquid (since I poured away some banana liquid), or not enough raising power from the baking powder. The denseness/moistness and the dried fruits and nuts make it taste like a mix between a banana bread and a fruit bread. Next time try this recipe with some (vegan) yogurt to both increase the moisture and also provide an acidic component to increase rising from the baking powder. Also, don’t use coconut oil, must use 100% liquid vegetable oil.

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