Gluten-Free Banana Bread with Sorghum Flour

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe bananas (about 350 g peeled), mashed
• 2 eggs
• 80 ml sunflower oil
• 100 g light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120 g sorghum flour
• 80 g white rice flour
• 40 g tapioca starch
• 2 tsp psyllium husk powder
• 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 50 g walnuts, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 °C (160 °C fan). Oil a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin and line it with baking paper.
2. Mash the bananas in a large bowl, then whisk in the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla.
3. In another bowl whisk the sorghum flour, rice flour, tapioca starch, psyllium, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture until there are no dry pockets. The batter is thick. Leave it for 10 minutes so the psyllium can hydrate, then fold in the walnuts if using.
5. Spread the batter in the tin and bake for 55–65 minutes, until a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. If the top browns too fast, cover it loosely with foil after 35 minutes.
6. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then on a rack. Slice only when completely cool – a gluten-free crumb sets as it cools. Keeps 3 days wrapped; freeze slices for longer.

Gluten-free check: Buy rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, sorghum flour and psyllium husk labelled gluten-free – naturally gluten-free flours are often milled alongside wheat. Baking powder can contain wheat starch, so use one labelled gluten-free. Vanilla extract and bicarbonate of soda are naturally gluten-free; check the labels anyway.