Country Living Banana Bread
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Country Living Banana Bread
~ raw, vegan, gluten-free ~
Craving a little down-home comfort? Satisfy your soul with this delicious and wholesome cake-like Country Living Banana Bread.
When I took a bite of this bread as I was removing it from the dehydrator, it was like receiving a warm, embracing hug from my mama. For a few moments out of my busy day, everything came to a halt; peace flooded my heart, a smile spread across my lips, a song welled up in my throat…
I became so relaxed that my muscles gave way to the tray of banana bread slices and down they went. Jolted from my moment of nirvana… my stealth-like Ninja reflexes came to life as I dove towards the ground. This caused the tray to smack into the fridge with such sheer force, that they gained momentum upward and landed on the kitchen island… as if sliding into the home base after popping a home-run ball… the chef yelled… SAAAAAAFE!
Yes, folks, these types of kitchen mishaps (AKA catastrophes) take place in my kitchen. Life would be boring without them. Embrace them, regain your composure, dust the almond flour off your shirt, and smile like there is no tomorrow.
Have a fun time in the kitchen, and enjoy it!
Ingredients:
1 loaf
Dry Ingredients:
Wet Ingredients:
Preparation:
- In the food processor fitted with the “S” blade, place the following ingredients: oats, flax meal, psyllium, cinnamon, and salt.
- Pulse together until combined.
- Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add to the bowl the nut pulp, mashed banana, date paste, sweetener, vanilla, raisins, and chopped walnuts. Hold off on adding the diced banana chunks.
- With your hands blend till everything is well incorporated.
- Add the banana chunks and gently mix.
- I didn’t want you to add them in #2 because they would have turned to pure mush. I want the chunks to remain in the bread.
- Shape into a loaf and place on the mesh sheet that comes with your dehydrator.
- Dehydrate at 145 degrees for 1-2 hours to create an outer crust.
- Remove from the dehydrator, place the loaf on a cutting board, and slice pieces to the desired thickness.
- I did mine at about 1/2″.
- Return the bread to the mesh sheet laying the pieces flat.
- Decrease the temperature to 115 degrees (F) and continue to dehydrate for about 6 hours.
- As an indicator, if it is dry enough, touch the center of the bread slices.
- You don’t want it to be doughy, but you also don’t want the bread to dry out too much.
- You decide on how dry you want the end result to be.
- Shelf life and storage: My recommendation would be to store this bread in an air-tight container and the fridge for 3-5 days. The more moisture that is left in your bread, the shorter the shelf life. Therefore, shelf life will vary with your drying technique. Whenever I make this bread, it never lasts very long enough to spoil. Keep in mind, the whole purpose of eating a raw diet is to eat foods at their peak of freshness, so don’t expect this bread to have a long shelf life.
- To warm the bread before eating, place it in the dehydrator set at 145 degrees for 5-10 minutes.
The Institute of Culinary Ingredients™
- To learn more about maple syrup by clicking (here).
- Why do I specify Ceylon cinnamon? Click (here) to learn why.
- What is Himalayan pink salt, and does it matter? Click (here) to read more about it.
- Are oats gluten-free? Yes, read more about that (here).
- Are oats raw? Yes, they can be found. Click (here) to learn more.
- Do I need to soak and dehydrate oats? Not required but recommended. Click (here) to see why.
- Learn how to grind your own flaxseeds for ultimate freshness and nutrition. Click (here).
- How does psyllium work in a recipe? Learn more (here).
Culinary Explanations:
- Why do I start the dehydrator at 145 degrees (F)? Click (here) to learn the reason behind this.
- When working with fresh ingredients, it is essential to taste test as you build a recipe. Learn why (here).
- Don’t own a dehydrator? Learn how to use your oven (here). I do, however honestly believe that it is a worthwhile investment. Click (here) to learn what I use.
© AmieSue.com
Tags: Almond Pulp, Dairy Free, Dehydrated, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free, Soy Free, Vegan
Looks great. I’ve learned to make bread from you. I now have a wide variety of sweet and savory breads in both loaf and pizza shapes. Thank you, Amie-sue.
I bet you make some amazing breads Ben. :) Thanks for sharing this and so happy that I have been able to inspire you. Blessings, amie sue
hi Amy Sue,
This is a beautiful Bread. I made some changed which I want to share with you:
I took half raisins and half Inca berries which gives a sour surprise in your mouth! Delicious!
I didn’t use the dates. I found it sweet enough without
Good evening Jokuh… thank you for sharing this with me. :) I hope that you have a wonderful week, amie sue
Hi Amie Sue!
I have been successfully and gratefully been making your recipes for years now! Absolutely delicious every time!! :) Thank you! My little boy is unfortunately on a nut free diet. Id love for him to be able to enjoy your recipes like I do and provide more variety in his grab and go snacks! Would sunflower seeds make a good replacement for almonds? Or can you suggest a better alternative I at all?
Thank you so much!
With love, Laura
Hello Laura,
I am sorry to hear about your son’s allergy to nuts. I hope in time he will be able to enjoy them. I can’t really give you a black and white answer to your question as it will often depend on the recipe. Sunflower seeds can be a good substitute but it will really change the flavor of things. There are other things such as oats, buckwheat, hemp seeds, etc that can be in place, but again just depends on the end result of the recipe that you are seeking. Have a blessed day and if you have any questions on replacements in other recipes, just let me know. I will do my best to help. amie sue
Hi Amie-Sue,
I don’t eat nuts, so I can not use the almond pulp. Can I replace the almond pulp? What do you suggest? Do you have bread recipes without nuts (or the pulp from nuts)?
Thank you so much for your inspiration, Amie-Sue!
Blessings,
Christa
Hello Christa,
Almond pulp is my go to ingredient when I make raw breads. It took me quite a while and lots of ingredients to come up with the perfect raw bread texture that I was seeking. With that being said, you are welcome to experiment with other flours such as sunflower seeds, buckwheat, and even oat flour. The textures will be a bit denser and the flavors will slightly be effected but I am sure you can come up with some great tasting breads. :)
Blessings, amie sue
Hello,
I am wondering if I could substitute the rolled oats with 3/4 c steel cut oats and 1/4 c oats bran. I don’t like the fact that rolled oats are steamed.
Thanks Amie Sue,
Patricia
Good morning Patricia,
I don’t ever use steel cut oats or oat bran. You can get raw rolled oats… but to use the other two items would have to be an experiment since I don’t have a straight answer on how the bread would turn out exactly. Good luck and have a great day, amie sue
I already made this recipe last night using steel-cut oats, soaked and dehydrated. The process of dehydrating the slices of bread is in progress right now and so far they look moist and firm enough. My next step will be to make the recipe with whole rolled oats to be able to compare, and let you know.
Thank you for replying and have a wonderful day!!!
Best regards,
Patricia
Awesome! Please do keep me posted because it will help us all in knowing what substitutions will and won’t work as well. I appreciate that you are also going to make the recipe as is so you understand the texture and taste. :) I with I could test all substitutions in the recipes that I share but I don’t have the time or money to do that… and there are times, that I, myself can’t eat certain ingredients that another can. :) Have a great day, amie sue
Hi Amie-Sue, thanks for all your dedication and efforts. I just want to ask how many grams of almond pulp makes 2 cups, the cup measurement confuses me .
At this time, I don’t know the weight of the 2 cups that I use. I just packed it in the measuring cup. Sorry, amie sue
Thanks. Is it possible you could find out how much grams of almond pulp makes a cup? Which cup so you use?
I will weigh it next time I make some almond pulp because I don’t have any on hand right now. I use a standard 8 oz measuring cup. amie sue
Can I rehydrate some almond flour to make almond pulp?
It’s not the same texture Cordelia. If it is all that you have, you can give it a try. amie sue
Thank you
Hi! I’m really liking this recipe. I make my own oat milk from steel cut oats and always have so much oat pulp afterwards I have no idea what to do with– this may be the answer! I’ll make sure to let you know how it goes.
I love it Sarah! I don’t make oat milk often so I never thought of using the pulp. Please do keep me posted. Merry Christmas. amie sue
I made this the other day, OMG!!! Amie Sue, you hit it out of the ball park. This bread is so delicious. Thank you!!! :)
Good afternoon Catherine… thank you so much for the feedback, it means a lot. So thrilled that you love this bread as much as we do. :) I hope you try some other bread recipes that I have posted. :) Have a wonderful holiday, blessings. amie sue
Hi there
After recently moving my dehydrator is in the attic, as i live in such a cold climate most of the time, i have not been making any raw food with the dehydrator.
Is there a way I can dehydrate with using the dehydrator, which I should add takes up so much space.
Hello Christine. Are you asking if you can dehydrate without a dehydrator? Your question doesn’t quite make sense, “Is there a way I can dehydrate with using the dehydrator, which I should add takes up so much space.?
amie sue
Good afternoon, I was wondering if I could use sweet apricot seeds instead of almonds? Please and thank you.
Good day Rawchocolate25,
I do not eat sweet apricot seeds, therefore I don’t have experience with them. In this recipe, I used almond pulp, not the whole almond which is very different in texture. A person could use any nut or seed pulp… so if you are creating a sweet apricot seed milk and have the pulp left over, I don’t see why not.
I hope that helps, blessings. amie sue
i have all the ingredients except psyllium powder. can i leave it out, or what would be a substitute?
Good evening Dawn,
Though I do highly recommend the psyllium powder to achieve the same texture that I did, you can sub it for ground chia seeds (same measurement) It will help with binding but won’t have the same lofty texture that I got with the psyllium. Keep me posted on how it turns out. blessings, amie sue
Do I have to soak and dehydrate the oats if I am using raw sprouted naked oats?
Good day Cordelia,
Yes, I would still soak them. ALL oats have phytic acid in them. After they are soaked and rinsed you can use them right away or dehydrator them for later use. Blessings, amie sue
Hi Amie
My niece is allergic to almonds can I use cashew or another pulp.
I got my answer thank u.