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Monday, June 6, 2011

Banana Bread

Usually I buy lots of the bananas in the hope that some will have time to get good and over-ripe before they get eaten.  The riper (ie blacker) the better.  But bananas have been quite expensive in Perth this year due to the tornado and floods in Queensland, so I have not been buying as many.

Fortunately I still had a few over-ripe bananas in the back of my freezer from last year.  So when the banana bread cravings set in I had a handy stash.

For my first attempt at vegan banana bread I decided on the The Post Punk Kitchen's recipe - and I was not disappointed.    The Post Punk Kitchen - Banana Bread

Surprisingly there is no photo on the website so perhaps Isa could use mine ;)


The banana bread is delightfully moist, with a wonderful texture and a sweet, spicey taste.  It is a little bit too sweet even for my sweet tooth, so next time I will reduce the sugar a bit.

The only changes I made:
- I used regular soy milk instead of the vanilla soy milk in the recipe
- I added 1/3 cup of sultanas and 1/2 cup of walnut pieces.  (My husband loves sultanas and walnuts in banana bread.)
I know that the sultanas would have contributed to the sweetness, but even without the sultanas I would prefer to scale back the white sugar a little.

I have a question:  What effect does the apple cider vinegar have?
I looked at quite a few vegan banana bread recipes before deciding on this one and found that a lot used apple cider vinegar.  Is it something to do with replacing the eggs?

Whatever the role of the cider vinegar - the recipe works!  And I will definitely be making it again.

5 comments:

  1. SarahJune 11, 2011 at 2:27 PM

    You're right that it's to do with replacing the eggs. It's the reaction of bicarb and vinegar that's important for the leavening effect. Do you remember mixing them in primary school science to make a "volcano"? I'm not sure why they all use apple cider vinegar specifically - maybe a taste thing?

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  2. MandyJune 14, 2011 at 10:32 AM

    Hey - I never got to make a 'volcano' in school. I feel like I have missed out on an important developmental milestone!

    Thanks for the info. I assumed it must be some kind of reaction where a base was needed but wasn't quite sure how it worked. (Rusty brain syndrome)

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  3. SarahJune 14, 2011 at 9:05 PM

    You should definitely make volcanoes with your nephews then. It will be a science(and vegan cooking!) lesson for them, and making up for missed childhood experiences for you. And you get to be cool Auntie Mandy yet again - win win!

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  4. ~yolandaAugust 14, 2011 at 1:15 AM

    The banana mixes with the milk to make it a "buttermilk". You can use lemon juice instead.

    The pictures of your bread look nice

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  5. MandyAugust 15, 2011 at 1:17 PM

    Thanks Yolanda :)

    Using lemon sounds like a nice idea - I think it would add a lovely sparkle to the flavour. I will have to try it the next time I have over-ripe bananas on hand.

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