Banana Bread
As usual, holiday cooking duties have fallen to me. My mom wanted ham, but I've had ham several times lately, so I convinced her to switch it to pork chops (after assuring her that I would not imbue them with red pepper, my favorite garnish). I'll also cook some rice, corn on the cob, and stir fry some vegetables. For dessert, however, gluten-free banana bread.
I use Bette Hagman's "Best Banana Bread" recipe (The Gluten Free Gourmet), but with some modifications. Her recipe calls for either 1 cup soy flour, 1/2 cup potato starch and 1/4 cup rice flour OR for 1 3/4 cup of her "4-bean flour mix." I really liked the flavor that the soy flour gave the recipe, but soy flour no longer agrees with me, and I can not stand anything made from "garfava" flour (a mixture of fava and garbanzo beans). So I've modified the flour. I used white bean flour in place of the garfava. Essentially, any bean flour will work; it's a matter of finding one whose flavor you like. The best flavor, imo, is from soy flour. *sighs* But white bean flour isn't too bad.
I also up the amount of banana in the bread. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of mashed banana for one loaf. I would guess that's about one banana. I put in three bananas per loaf. This improves the flavor and texture, but it does cause problems if you actually bake the bread as a loaf. Basically, you wind up with nearly twice as much dough as you can put in a single loaf pan and expect to get the bread done in the middle. So I stopped making loaves of banana bread, and started making banana muffins instead. :^)
Why bean flours, non-celiacs may wonder? Bean flours do two things: they add protein and they add moisture. Most GF flour mixes are rice-based, and rice flour products tend to be very, very dry, and lacking in protein. But bean flours also tend to have strong flavors, and so they're mixed with other, starchier flours, to 'water' down the taste, as it were. Bette Hagman's 4-flour-bean-mix has a texture very similar to wheat flour (from what I can remember). Depending on the bean flour you use, it will have as much or more protein than wheat flour.
Alternately, you can add rice protein to rice flour mixes (which I do), but they still won't be as moist as products made with bean-based flours.
Queue:
baking,
food reaction,
holidays,
life
8 comments:
Hi. Interesting blog entry.
While I personally have no problem at all with gluten, as a glucose-challenged person, I am severely grain-restricted. I would love to know the formula for Bette Hagman's four-flour-bean mixture. I have experimented with chick pea flour, adzuki bean flour, hemp four, and other flours in various combinations, and am always looking for new ideas. Thanks!
Well, there are two grains in the mix, but here it is:
2/3 part Garfava/bean flour
1/3 part sorghum flour
1 part cornstarch
1 part tapioca flour
I have read that arrowroot starch can be substituted for the cornstarch, but I've never tried it myself. For the sorghum flour... I'm not sure. Amaranth flour has a similar consistency, but it would change the flavor quite a bit.
I'm confused.
How can someone "personally have no problem at all with gluten" and at the same time be "a glucose-challenged person"?
I'm sure it's a proofreading error, but it sounds strange.
I like banana bread, but I really prefer pumkin or zuchini bread.
Or maybey it's just that I'm an idiot who can't read when tired.
(I'm not wearing my glasses right now either. That doesn't help. Gluten and Glucose look alomost identical unless I squint)
Thanks for the recipe. Unfortunately, I can't eat much cornstarch, arrowroot, or tapioca. I'll just keep experimenting...
You can find recipes using just the bean flours, but they are heavier than wheat flour, and very strongly flavored, so I've never cared for recipes made that way. If you can handle sorghum flour, it would at least dilute the flavor a bit, but it's still pretty heavy. Unfortunately, if you can't handle the starches, I don't know of a good way to make the flour mixes any lighter.
A book you might look for is The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook. It's got quite a mix of recipes in it, but it looks like there are some with just bean flours, etc, that might meet your needs.
Oh, something else to try: add extra eggs or egg whites to your recipes. If you've got an automatic mixer, let it beat them into a froth before you add any other ingredients. That can make the end product turn out lighter and fluffier as well. Assuming you aren't allergic to eggs, anyway. :^)
I am playing with bean flour right now. I sorted 2 pounds I sorted 2 pounds of pinto beans this morning and then divided them between 2 clean 1/2 sheet pans. I baked them @ 350 for 20 minutes. I piled let them cool and then gound them in my kitchen mill. THe Kitchen Mill --> www.blendtech.com (I avoid stone grinders, beans are not good for the stones.)
I cooled them well and then put them into a storage container.
Now comes the fun part. I plan to make a few recipes with the pinto flour.
You ask me, "Why did you go to all of this trouble?"
We tried a mix with pinto bean flour in it and I am inspired.
We have made so many things that are soooo good. So, I have hopes for using this big bag of pintos that got pushed back in the pantry.
I have garbanzos to toast and grind next!
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