All of us at Oliveology love cooking with as little waste as possible. We love putting leftover veggies in hearty soups, to make tarts with whatever jarred ingredients we have in our fridge, and we even make bread with olives and sun-dried tomatoes we don’t feel like eating anymore.
When it comes to overripe fruit, we always go for jams. But I have been for years wondering about banana bread. You see, it’s not a cake, and it’s not a bread either. How does one eat it, really? So last week, when we had some overripe bananas, I knew it was time to see for myself. And when we say overripe, we mean black outside. Don’t bin them, make this recipe!
And of course, as you may know, we love adding olive oil and honey in almost everything. So banana bread could be no exception. This recipe also has Greek yoghurt, and wholemeal barley flour. And we also used a heart-shaped cake tin, no particular reason there.
What to expect: A dark brown colour, very airy, bouncy texture and a wholesome taste that is not at all sweet. So indeed, the name bread is really accurate.
Makes one large loaf (or a heart-shaped tin)
400g very ripe bananas
5tbsp vanilla fir honey
5tbsp olive oil
100g yoghurt (you can find it at our shops at Borough Market and Spa Terminus)
3 eggs
200g wholemeal barley flour
1tbsp baking soda
1tbsp baking powder
30g walnuts, finely chopped
Preheat the oven at 180C.
In a large bowl whisk the bananas until smooth. If you are left with a few banana lumps, that’s ok.
Add the honey, olive oil and yoghurt and whisk again. Add the eggs, one at a time, and whisk until you have a smooth mixture with a few banana lumps.
In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the mixture to the banana bowl and mix well. You should have something that looks like a slightly denser cake batter.
Grease your cake or bread tin with olive oil and dust with flour. Pour the batter in it and sprinkle the walnuts on top.
Bake at 180C for 30-45 minutes. The banana bread is ready when you insert a knife into the centre and it comes out clean.
Serve with Greek yoghurt and plenty of honey!
