Banana Bread – yes, we all know banana bread and I have posted multiple banana breads with other fruit additions.  This time I thought to stay with the classic banana bread.  But I could not resist to throw in some chopped nuts since when you bite in, they give a nice crunchy feeling.  I love oranges and their fragrance.  Since adding orange juice might make the bread mushy, I decided to add a little bit orange extract which gives a nice flavor.  I also tweaked the original recipe which I got from food network and replaced a portion of all purpose flour with amaranth flour.  Amaranth flour does not have any gluten.  So it gives the banana bread a soft and not so sticky texture.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup amaranth flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 medium eggs
• ¾ cup coconut palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• ½ cup oil
• 4 medium sized bananas mashed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon orange extract
• ½ cup pecans chopped

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper and grease lightly with butter
• Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside
• In a large bowl beat eggs lightly. Add sugar and beat.
• Add oil, vanilla extract, orange extract and stir until oil gets incorporated into the egg mixture
• Stir in mow add mashed bananas
• Stir in flour in 3 batches until just combined.
• Stir in nuts
• Transfer batter to the prepared pan and bake for about one hour or a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean
• Cool on wire rack

Source: Adapted and modified from food network – banana bread

Tagged: all purpose flour, amaranth flour, banana, pecans, vanilla