Made-In-Italy Banana Bread … The best ever!
I’m going to start off saying I am beyond surprised by how good this banana bread came out … was it me being in a particularly creative moment or was it that the ingredients I used were all Italian? Was it my mom’s oven or was it that I had to put the batter in the fridge for a half-hour and this, that I initially considered an “incident”, turned out to be the secret of such good banana bread??
I don’t know what it was, all I know is that this is – hands down – the absolute best banana bread that ever came out of my own hands.
These days I’m on vacation in Italy visiting my family and friends, taking some time to slow down and relax, some time to be lazy (which isn’t usually one of my attributes) and some time to enjoy those little pleasures that I never get the chance to enjoy: an evening talk with my mom and brother sipping some sparkling water with DoTerra Lime essential oil; the noise of the crickets at night time that is all what you can at our countryside house when the stars come out; a 2-hour afternoon nap .. one of those naps when you sleep really sound; a good cup of coffee made by mom; an excellent glass of our Barbera wine; home-made dishes made with freshly picked veggies from the garden; going to the hairdresser who has been doing my hair since I was 8 years old and who I missed more than anyone could possibly imagine; and so much more … I would seriously need a month here to do all that I would like to and not just once.
So, back to our banana bread … I prepared it for a very special occasion: my visit to one of my very best friends Laura, aka Gaughi. We’ve been friends since college but, surprisingly, our friendship got even stronger over the past 4 years, despite the thousand miles that separate Tigliole (Piedmont, ITA) from Ventura (California, US). Gaughi lives in the countryside, in a small town named Tigliole and her house is a corner of paradise on earth: she has a huge piece of land by her house and she uses it for her 4 ponies (Luna, Stella, Turbino and …) and her wonderful donkey Gina. I fell in love with Gina since the first time I met her in September 2017. You just can’t get enough of her sweetness: when she sees a human, she just comes by to check them out and fill them with all her warmth. Whoever you are, whether she knows you or not, she comes towards you, she stops right by your chest and she sits there, patiently waiting for you to cuddle her, hug her, talk to her, scratch her a little bit. She is quiet, patient, she never bothers anyone, she makes you feel like you are never disturbing her. She’s eating her grass and you can cuddle her no problem, she will never run away from you. The only one she runs away from is the dog Vanessa, who lives with her and the ponies. Somehow they don’t really like each other too much 😀
Gaughi is one of the wisest women I know and she’s a role model for me – when it comes to overcoming a difficult moment, she’s going to be the cure for your soul. There are not many friends out there who I share anything that happens in my life like I do with her.
I wanted to prepare something good for our breakfast on Thursday (I was going to stay overnight): it was probably the love I put into this banana bread and the fat it was for her that probably made it so good … I would have loved to give Gina a slice too if it wasn’t for one of her dogs finishing the very last slice while we were outside!!!
It was four of us at dinner (me, Gaughi, her husband Alberto and our other girlfriend Marina) and everyone loved this bread, even Alberto – who rarely eats desserts – had at least a couple slices, which definitely made me feel good.
There’s a couple things I’d like to say about this bread:
- I let the batter rest in the fridge for about half hour before baking it. It wasn’t made on purpose but I believe – especially when baking with coconut flour – that this contributed to the bread coming out perfectly cooked and with an amazing consistency.
- The “coconut flour” that you find here in Italy isn’t the same coconut flour you find in the US: while in the American grocery stores you find an actual flour, here what is labeled as “coconut flour” is just dried coconut, shredded very thin.
- I have never found farro flour in the US but I’m sure you can replace it with oat, spelt or any other all-purpose flour.
- Cooking time depends a lot on the kind of oven you have, so please keep an eye on your bread: I can tell my mom’s oven was far more powerful than mine in the US.
Note: once back to the US, I repeated this recipe changing up a little the flours and using a different sugar, so below I propose both versions, which both turned out great, but the Italian version was sublime! Most likely, this is because of the ingredients I used ☺
Servings |
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- 2 medium eggs
- 3 medium ripe bananas
- 3 Tbsp coconut oil
- 130 g raw beet sugar or half heaping cup
- Pinch of salt
- 200 ml unsweetened almond milk or ¾ cup
- 16 g Bertolini baking powder or regular baking powder + 1tsp vanilla extract – Bertolini has vanilla extract added
- 120 g shredded coconut
- 100 g oats
- 220 g farro flour
- ½ dried cranberries
- 2 medium eggs
- 3 medium ripe bananas
- 3 Tbsp coconut oil
- cup ½raw coconut sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- cup ¾unsweetened almond milk
- 16 g Bertolini baking powder or regular baking powder + 1tsp vanilla extract – Bertolini has vanilla extract added
- 1-1/4 cup almond meal or flour
- 1-1/4 cup Spelt Flour
- 1-1/4 cup rolled oats
- cup ½dried cranberries
Ingredients
For the “Italian version”
Alternative ingredients (“American version”):
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- Preheat oven to 350F degrees (180 Celsius) and line a 9”x5” loaf pan with parchment paper.
- For the Italian version, I worked the wet ingredients with a fork; for the American version I blended them: either way works but probably best to just use a fork … In any case, you would need to mash the bananas, then add the eggs, the coconut oil, cinnamon, salt and sugar and mix very well till the batter is smooth.
- Almond milk and whisk vigorously to combine. Once all wet ingredients are combined, add almond meal, spelt flour and oats and stir. Last, throw in the cranberries.
- Bake for 1 hour, then turn the oven off and leave the bread in for another 5-10 minutes before removing.
- When ready, it should feel firm and be crackly and golden brown on top.
- Let cool completely before cutting or it will be too tender to hold form.
- Store leftovers in a covered container for 2 to 3 days.
Note: once back to the US, I repeated this recipe changing up a little the flours and using a different sugar, so below I propose both versions, which both turned out great, but the Italian version was sublime! Most likely, this is because of the ingredients I used ☺