No Butter Banana & Walnut Loaf

I love bread, all different types of bread; but I'm only too aware of the quantity of butter used to make bread so darn tasty. I've been trying for a few weeks now to come up with a banana bread (and a carrot cake) that doesn't require butter or oil. I've had a few mishaps but I think I've finally cracked it.

This bread recipe uses buttermilk instead of butter and oil. Buttermilk is wonderful low in fat, but helps to keep the bread really moist. I've tried this recipe with the buttermilk and no oil; then 1 tablespoon of oil; but I think it really does require 2 tablespoons of oil to maintain the moistness. Sure, 2 tablespoons of oil never killed anyone, especially for a whole loaf of bread.

When making this recipe it's very important to use blackened bananas; the flavour from overripe bananas is so much better than just ripe bananas.The walnuts also not only add a wonderful texture to the bread, but also a fantastic nutty flavour.

(mashed bananas, not so attractive when mixed with the buttermilk & oil, but don't be fooled...)

This recipe is super fast to make in a food processor; with very little elbow grease required. It's nearly too easy.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 170g of caster sugar
• 165g of flour
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 80ml of buttermilk
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate powder
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 100g of chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 1lb loaf tin with baking paper.
2. Add the eggs and sugar to the food processor and whizz for three minutes
3. Meanwhile, add the oil, buttermilk and vanilla to the mashed bananas and incorporate them together.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the food processor and whizz until combined.
5. Then add the flourt, baking powder and the bicarbonate soda to the processor and pulse until nicely combined (careful not to over process at this stage)
6. Gently fold in the chopped nuts and transfer the cake mixture to the loaf tin.
7. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes (check that it's fully baked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the loaf and if it comes out clean then the bread is ready, if its a little sticky, bake for a further 5-10 minutes and repeat the skewer step)
8. Cool in the tin on a wire rack.