Banana Bread (GFCF, eggless, soaked, bread machine)

My friend's banana bread recipe adapted for whole wheat, soaked grains and GFCF & eggless. Pretty sure that counts as a new recipe. :-P

The fun part is that I ground 90% of the flours in my coffee grinder. I've been wanting a grain grinder "someday" for a long time but had contented myself to the white wheat flour that we can get here for the time being, since I don't have access (that I know of) to wheat berries, anyway.

Many GFCF flours, though, are made from things I actually do have access to, like brown rice, chick peas and coconut. I started thinking more seriously about getting a grinder when I realized that. Then, I started wondering whether my extra coffee grinder that I use for things like flax seed and powdering sugar would work to grind those things. I reasoned that they really weren't that much "harder" than coffee beans.

Sure enough, I was able to grind an entire bag of brown rice, plenty of coconut and some chickpeas. The chick peas are the most difficult of the bunch. They make a *ton* of noise bouncing around in the grinder before they start breaking down. I was concerned that they would break the plastic in the process (I've something similar happen with ice in a glass blender), and, sure enough, there's a tiny crack that I think may have been made by the chick peas. So, this is probably not a long-term solution, since the grains were not exactly as fine as I'd like them to be, and my coffee grinder might not hold up, but it's really nice to be able to save some money and have GFCF flours available more readily in the meantime.

I've got my eye on a Vita-Mix as my "someday" grinder/blender. We'll see when that someday comes.

• 1/2 C brown rice flour
• 1/2 C tapioca flour/powder/starch
• 1/2 C coconut flour (ground coconut)
• 1/2 C chickpea flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 3 T vegetable oil
• 2 T flax seed, ground + 6T water, whisked
• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 2 bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise
o or 3 small bananas, peeled and halved

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine.
2. Select the Dough setting, and press Start.
3. Mix the bread for 3 to 5 minutes until the bananas are mashed and all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
4. If necessary, use a spatula to push the dough from the sides of pan and scrape bottom of pan to ensure all flour is incorporated..
5. When 3 to 5 minutes have passed on the clock display, press Stop, turn off or unplug machine.
6. Smooth out the top of the loaf with the rubber spatula.
7. Select the Bake setting, set timer for an additional 7 hours and press Start. (The Bake cycle time may vary with machines, but should be about 50 minutes.)
8. To test the bread for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center top. If the bread is done, the toothpick will come out clean. If not, reset the machine on Bake and continue to bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
9. Remove the pan from the machine, but allow the bread to remain in the pan for 10 minutes.
10. Remove the bread to cool completely on a wire rack.

Banana Bread (bread machine)

I know part of the point of using the bread machine is to let it do the kneading for you, but you have to admit, having a quick bread mix and bake in the same (highly non-stick) pan, leaving no mixing bowls to wash, is certainly a plus. A friend sent me this recipe when I first got my machine, and we've really enjoyed having it. I adapted it to whole wheat flour and to soaking the grains.

• 2 C flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 3 T vegetable oil
• 2 T flax seed, ground + 6T water, whisked
• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 2 bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise
o or 3 small bananas, peeled and halved

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine.
2. Select the Dough setting, and press Start.
3. Mix the bread for 3 to 5 minutes until the bananas are mashed and all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
4. If necessary, use a spatula to push the dough from the sides of pan and scrape bottom of pan to ensure all flour is incorporated..
5. When 3 to 5 minutes have passed on the clock display, press Stop, turn off or unplug machine.
6. Smooth out the top of the loaf with the rubber spatula.
7. Select the Bake setting, set timer for an additional 7 hours and press Start. (The Bake cycle time may vary with machines, but should be about 50 minutes.)
8. To test the bread for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center top. If the bread is done, the toothpick will come out clean. If not, reset the machine on Bake and continue to bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
9. Remove the pan from the machine, but allow the bread to remain in the pan for 10 minutes.
10. Remove the bread to cool completely on a wire rack.

English Muffin Bread

For our first anniversary, ML gave me a bread machine. Wait, before you groan, it was probably the best gift he could have chosen. I loved it. It think it may have actually given rise to the use of the phrase "completely domesticated." If not, the phrase was certainly used.

I used that machine several times a week. Until we moved overseas.

Bread machines have heating elements (kinda part and parcel with the concept). Heating elements require a lot of wattage. Wattage that would have to be converted from 110 to 220, were I to take my beloved bread machine overseas. Bread machines also rely on timers. Timers don't play well with converters.

So, the bread machine went to live with my mother. My mother bemoaned the counter space it would take up, but accepted it reluctantly. My mother has used the bread machine even more than I did. Go figure.

Ten years I have wanted a 220 bread machine. Ten years we have lived in locations where 220 bread machines were either unavailable or ridiculously expensive. Until now.

I received an e-mail from a friend here while we were in the States saying that she'd spotted a 220 bread machine for a reasonable price. We then had an offer of money for the purchase of a bread machine after we received ZL's diagnosis. Sweet (new) friends who wanted to make our lives less difficult with all of the added stress.

Three months later, we purchased a bread machine. It took a little while, because we didn't want a non-discounted floor model (grungy and tinkered with), but we finally found a bread machine. And I am lovin' life. This thing even has a specific gluten-free cycle with which I have baked two loaves now of bread that ZL actually likes!

To come: several great bread machine recipes.

For now: one of the first things I did when I got moving with the bread machine was e-mail my mom for my favorite recipe from the recipe booklet that came with my original bread machine, English Muffin Bread. Seriously, the inside of this is just like the inside of an English Muffin. Really yummy stuff. Incredible as a sandwich bread for PB&J or PB & honey, because the jelly/honey soaks into the bread. Had to share.

• 1 1/2 C water
• 1 T sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 3 1/2 C flour
• 1/4 C powdered milk
• 2 t yeast

1. Place the ingredients in the bread pan in the order listed.
2. Set machine for regular cycle, 2 lb. loaf, light crust.

Enjoy!