Gluten-Free Banana Ginger Bread

I feel like a good portion of my life is spent feeding two insatiable toddlers. They have tiny tummies, so they don't need a lot of food, right? WRONG. At least in my personal experience, my 2 and 4-year-olds can put away just about the same amount of food as a high school linebacker. One breakfast?  Nope, at least two-that fuels two hours of running outside. Light lunch?  Never.  Snacks? Of course.  Dinner? Be prepared for the fridge to be empty at the end of the day.

Don't get me wrong, my kids are just as picky as everyone else's, they just REALLY love the food that they like.

Unless they get sick.

This week, both boys have had a nasty virus that has left them cranky, snotty-nosed, and sleepless. Us too. My huge grocery order (delivered weekly each Saturday afternoon) has barely been touched. Other than the precious berries that they can't ever get enough of, the majority of our produce is exactly where we left it a week ago. The poor kids have barely touched their favorite foods, and this includes the six pounds of bananas that are usually gone in two days. I like bananas, but only on the green side. My husband won't touch bananas with a ten foot pole, so I'm kind of stuck.

A few months back, this exact same scenario led me to the realization (or rather, reminded me in a terrible way) that altitude plays an enormous role in how your baked goods turn out. Back in DC, having too many ripe bananas just meant I could whip up a few loaves of my favorite banana bread (using my much-loved, trusty recipe), and freeze a few for future use. Here in Colorado, not so much. The first time I made banana bread here, I followed my old recipe verbatim. As soon as I looked in the oven about 15 minutes into the baking process, I realized my mistake. The dough was rising at an alarming rate. At 30 minutes, the outside looked almost done, but the inside of the loaf was still raw. At 45 minutes, I had a semi-burned, rubbery, hard, disgusting and inedible brick of something that resembled banana bread. Bleh. Into the trash it went.  

Luckily, the internet, as well as my new local friends, helped set me straight (or at least get me on the right track) about the whole high-altitude baking thing.  I'm slowly learning that certain recipes need more cooking time, some less.  Some need a higher temperature than at sea level.  And some of my recipes, including my banana bread, regrettably needed to be completely rewritten.  

Some good came out of BananaGate.  Well, two good things, to be precise: 

• I grew a pair, and finally rewrote my recipe
• The new recipe was even better than the one I've been using for years

Full disclosure: there were some hiccups in the road, and the recipe I'm posting here is actually my second rendition.  I won't get into the first-it's too gory to mention.  

Because I make quick breads so often, I keep a flour blend on hand to avoid having to mix together 6789 ingredients each time I bake.  Because of the difference in altitude, I effectively halved the amount of leavening, both in my mix, and in the banana bread recipe. Additionally, I realized that in order prevent the bread from drying out during the baking process, I needed to add acidic moisture to the batter.  (It turns out that acids help quick breads retain moisture better than eggs, milk, or water.) In this case, I decided to use plain yogurt. 

After the batter went into the oven, I waited with baited breath, and pretty much camped out in front of the oven to check the bread's progress.  Luckily, it rose just as it should.

The baking time was still shorter than the hour or so that it used to take, but the bread came out really well.  Crisp on the outside, just the perfect amount of moisture in the inside, and a nice added kick from the yogurt and ginger.  

Recipes

Laura's Baking and Pancake Blend:

1 1/4 cups sorghum flour

1 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup coconut flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp xanthan gum

Note: I like to have this on hand all the time, so I usually triple or quadruple the recipe and store it in a gallon Ziploc bag.  You can use this blend in place of flour and leavening in recipes that require only baking powder.  You will need to add baking soda if your recipe calls for it.  

Banana Ginger Bread:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 tablespoon milk

3 tablespoons plain yogurt

3 ripe bananas

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tablespoons finely minced crystallized ginger 

2 cups baking mix (recipe above)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350.  Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla, and mix until smooth.  In a separate bowl, mash bananas with yogurt and milk. Add banana mixture to sugar mixture and stir until combined.  In a separate bowl, add the baking mix, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda, stirring well to combine.  Add the dry mixture slowly into the wet mixture and mix until smooth. Fold in crystallized ginger.  Pour batter into a greased bread pan, and bake for 50-55 minutes.  Allow bread to rest for ten minutes after baking before turning out of pan.  

Modifications for sea level: double leavening, add only 1 tablespoon of yogurt.  Bake at 325 for 50-55 minutes.