Everyone loves banana bread, right? How about a whole-grain option with this Einkorn Banana Bread Recipe? I promise you are going to love this delicious and simple-to-make bread!
If you are interested in more Einkorn recipes, I have a few others to share. What about einkorn cornbread? I also REALLY love these einkorn chocolate chip cookies.
What Makes This Banana Bread So Good?
Sometimes people assume whole wheat baked goods are going to be dry and tasteless. Let this recipe prove that idea wrong. This is anything but dry and it has plenty of flavor.
Banana bread is a pretty simple bread to make. It takes a while to bake, but it is not hard to make. And, hands-on time is minimal.
One of the things I love about banana bread is it is versatile. It makes a great snack, breakfast, or even dessert.
Ingredients
- Einkorn Flour- You can either buy the einkorn flour, or if you are interested in milling your flour, I use a Nutrimill grain mill and buy my einkorn at Bluebird Grains.
- Baking soda- This is the leavener I always use for banana bread.
- Salt- Kosher salt is preferred in my kitchen.
- Butter- isn't everything better with butter?
- Canola oil- I love to use a blend of both butter and oil in my baked goods as it produces the best results. You can also use olive oil or other oil of choice if you prefer.
- Bananas- I love using overly ripe bananas as they have the best flavor. If you don't have overly ripe, use what you have.
- Brown sugar- the perfect sweetener for banana bread. If you don't want to use this, you can use any granulated sweetener of choice. I don't recommend liquid sweeteners as they change the texture of the bread.
- Vanilla- I would recommend pure vanilla for this recipe.
- Eggs- at room temperature.
- Walnuts- these are optional, but add to the flavor of the bread.
How To Make
Start by mixing your flour, soda, and salt in a small bowl. I like to mix it separately and make sure it is mixed well.
Next, mash your bananas in a medium-sized bowl. To the bananas, add your butter, oil, and brown sugar. Make sure and mix this well.
To this add the eggs and vanilla. At this point, only mix them until they are combined. Then in goes the dry ingredients, mixing to combine. Last up is the walnuts.
Pour into your prepared pan. Bake for right about 50-55 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool slightly in the pan, then invert and set on the cooling rack.
This bread is delicious warm, cool, or even cold! There is no wrong way to eat this. My favorite way is warm with plenty of butter!
Notes
Let me share a few notes on how to make the perfect whole-grain banana bread.
- First up, do not overmix your batter. This will result in a dense loaf. This is important with any quick bread, but important when you are using whole wheat.
- Also, make sure and use the spoon method for measuring wheat flour, if you aren't grinding your own. The flour will compact in shipping. Make sure and give it a quick mix, then spoon it into your measuring cup, then level it off with a knife.
- The next biggest tip I have is not to overbake. For those dry baked goods I talked about, the baking time is the biggest culprit. Let me share my favorite trick for avoiding this.
- Underbake your loaf just slightly. I know, this might sound like a bad idea but hear me out. Any baked goods will experience "carry-over cooking" when they are removed from the heat source.
- What this means is the residual heat in the baked good will continue to cook the loaf even after it is pulled from the oven. This is important to remember with whole wheat as it absorbs more moisture.
- If you pull this loaf out when it is perfectly baked, it will continue to cook over the next 5-10 minutes and become dry. So, underbake it just slightly and it will be perfect when you are ready to slice! My perfect time in the oven was 50 minutes.
- I used walnuts because bananas and walnuts just feel right. If you aren't into walnuts, you can always swap for pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, etc. Or, if you aren't into nuts at all, just leave them out.
Einkorn Wheat
There is so much to love about Einkorn! Let me share a few things you might find interesting. It was the first cultivated wheat. It is also the ONLY wheat that has not been hybridized. That is something.
Have you heard of Ötzi the Iceman who lived more than 5,000 years ago? His body was well-preserved in a glacier in Italy's Alps. Einkorn was found in his stomach. Isn't that cool?
It is grown here in the United States, but growers are few. It is mostly grown in Morrocco, France, and Turkey.
What does it taste like? Much like other wheat flour you have tried. It has a nutty flavor that lends itself to many baked goods, just like this cornbread. I cannot wait to share more recipes with you like this.
Einkorn Banana Bread Recipe
Equipment
- 8x4 bread pan
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups einkorn flour If you want, you can always sub this out for other whole wheat flours too. Red wheat, rye, kamut all work well. MAKE SURE to use the spoon and measure method. Especially if you are using flour you bought from the store. It has been compacted and will need to be loosened before measuring.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 bananas mashed
- ¼ cup melted butter
- ⅓ cup canola oil or other oil of choice
- 3 eggs
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray your loaf pan and set it aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set this aside.
- In another medium-sized bowl, combine the butter, oil, and brown sugar. Mix well, then add bananas. Next up are the eggs and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix only until they are just combined. You do not want to overmix at this point. Last, add in the chopped nuts if you are using them. Mix to combine.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan and place it in the oven. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Remember, as noted in the recipe post, you do not want to overbake whole-grain baked goods. Mine took 50 minutes right on the dot.
- I like to check by gently pressing the very center of the loaf. It should be just slightly underbaked. It will continue to cook even when removed from the oven.
- Now, remove from the oven and let this sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes. Then gently remove the bread from the pan by inverting, then turning it right side up again.
- This is delicious warm, it is delicious cooled. You cannot go wrong with this bread!
Notes
- First up, do not overmix your batter. This will result in a dense loaf. This is important with any quick bread, but really important when you are using whole wheat.
- Also, make sure and use the spoon method for measuring wheat flour, if you aren't grinding your own. The flour will compact in shipping. Make sure and give it a quick mix, then spoon it into your measuring cup, then level it off with a knife.
- The next biggest tip I have is not to overbake. Those dry baked goods I talked about, the baking time is the biggest culprit. Let me share my favorite trick for avoiding this.
- Underbake your loaf just slightly. I know, this might sound like a bad idea but hear me out. Any baked good will experience "carry-over cooking" when they are removed from the heat source.
- What this means is the residual heat in the baked good will continue to cook the loaf even after it is pulled from the oven. This is really important to remember with whole wheat as it absorbs more moisture.
- If you pull this loaf out when it is perfectly baked, it will continue to cook over the next 5-10 minutes and become dry. So, underbake it just slightly and it will be perfect when you are ready to slice! My perfect time in the oven was 50 minutes.
- I used walnuts because bananas and walnuts just feel right. If you aren't into walnuts, you can always swap for pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, etc. Or, if you aren't into nuts at all, just leave them out.
Jen K. says
This turned out great! I added cinnamon and nutmeg and walnuts. I used 220g of Einkorn kernels and ground them. I used duck eggs and light olive oil. I let it sit 20 min. Before baking to soften the bran. I baked 50 min. And it was perfect!
Amy Sandidge says
Thank you so much for letting me know about the additions and changes you made to the recipe- they sound delicious!! I cannot wait to try some of them out.