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.

Soaked Whole Wheat Pancakes

When I originally posted my version of NoSpendMonth's pancake recipe (back in January), I promised that I'd play around with soaking the grains and replacing some of the fat with applesauce. So it took me a while. :-P

Here it is, though. We had these this morning for breakfast, and they were really good. Lighter than usual and more of a buttermilk taste, which I liked (not sour, just rich). I've got a stock of applesauce in the freezer, which made that modification simple (need to post my applesauce "recipe" soon; it's more of a "process" than a "recipe," but it's so simple that I want to share it).

• 4 C wheat flour
• 1 C oats
• 5 C milk
• 5 T vinegar
• 1 C butter, melted (2 sticks)
o or 1/2 C butter, melted + 1/2 C applesauce

• 3 T baking powder
• 3 t salt
• 3 eggs

DIRECTIONS
1. The night/7-10 hours before the meal, in a medium bowl, whisk together milk and vinegar. Leave to sit for 5 min.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together flour and oats.
3. Mix butter (and applesauce, if using) into milk mixture.
4. Stir milk mixture into dry mixture.
5. Cover and leave out 7-10 hours.
6. Stir baking powder and salt into flour mixture.
7. Whisk eggs in separate bowl and stir into flour mixture.
8. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat (if non-stick, oil is not necessary).
9. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.
10. Brown on both sides and serve hot

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.