Whole wheat banana bread with pear and spices
This banana bread is probably the most baked recipe here at home. I have made it many times for friends and family, and the reactions are always positive. Only this one time I got the question: is it still sustainable if those bananas have to come from the other side of the world? Well, then I have good news for you, because bananas have a remarkably small ecological footprint. Much smaller than eggs for example.
Read more about the ecological footprint of bananas
In addition, bananas provide a good binding in baked goods. As a result, you don't need eggs at all. As a general rule, one banana can replace two eggs in every kind of cake. The riper the bananas, the better. And since they become sweeter, you can also add less sugar. Do you want your bananas to ripen faster? Then store them next to your apples or pears. Or if it needs to go even faster: put them together in a paper bag. Due to the ethylene gas that the fruits produce, they reinforce each other's ripening process.
For a good balance between imported fruit and local fruit, you could rightaway add chunks of pear to your banana bread. Both fruits follow each other's season: from September to February. And to top it all off for this time of the year: winter spices. Think about cinnamon and cardamom, or speculaas spice mix if you happen to have some at home. These flavours go together very well. But it only gets really good with my favourite not-so-secret ingredient: buckwheat flour. Buckwheat is a seed that is very rich in proteins. The pronounced nutty taste can quickly dominate, so not everyone is a fan of buckwheat. But if you replace about a quarter to a fifth of the flour with buckwheat flour in sweet recipes, it usually gives a really nice extra touch. Make sure to give it a try and let me know what you think.
Ingredients
Directions
Break the bananas into pieces in a mixing bowl and mash them with a fork until smooth. You can still leave some small pieces in it.
Add the applesauce, brown sugar and spices and stir well.
Now add the whole wheat flour, baking powder and buckwheat flour, but do not blend just yet.
Cut the pear into cubes and add them on top of the flour. Stir them through so that all sides are covered with flour. This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the dough while baking.
If you would like to add walnuts as well, then you can add them at this point.
Stir well until all ingredients are combined and pour the batter into a cake mould.
Bake the banana bread in the oven at 175°C/350°F. After an hour of baking it is ready. Let it cool down for a few minutes in the cake mould before you move it to a wire rack to cool down completely.
Ingredients
Directions
Break the bananas into pieces in a mixing bowl and mash them with a fork until smooth. You can still leave some small pieces in it.
Add the applesauce, brown sugar and spices and stir well.
Now add the whole wheat flour, baking powder and buckwheat flour, but do not blend just yet.
Cut the pear into cubes and add them on top of the flour. Stir them through so that all sides are covered with flour. This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the dough while baking.
If you would like to add walnuts as well, then you can add them at this point.
Stir well until all ingredients are combined and pour the batter into a cake mould.
Bake the banana bread in the oven at 175°C/350°F. After an hour of baking it is ready. Let it cool down for a few minutes in the cake mould before you move it to a wire rack to cool down completely.
Hi! I really want to try this recipe, but I was wondering if the apple sauce is solely for flavor, or if it’s necessary for the consistency. Thanks!
Hi Melanie, good question: both the apple sauce and the mashed bananas actually also add moisture, fibers and pectin to the recipe, which also helps as a binding agent. That’s why you don’t need eggs or oil in this recipe. But you could easily replace the apple sauce by some extra mashed bananas or other types of pureed fruits or fruit jam. If you try it out, feel free to let me know what you used and how it turned out. 🙂