Banana Pecan Flax Bread

These dark brown loaves are sweet, airy and bursting with whole grains. I always have a bag of really ripe bananas in my freezer ready to do their job. I freeze bananas in their skins and defrost on the counter in a big bowl after rinsing with tepid water. Don’t worry about all the water expelled and mash until well combined. If you aren’t using frozen bananas, reduce the cooking time by 5 or 10 min. Sourdough discard improves the crumb of this quick bread, but is optional. 

Preheat oven 350 F

1 ½ cups organic all-purpose white

1 ½ cups whole spelt, emmer, spring wheat or red fife 

½ cup ground flax seed

1 tbsp baking powder 

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

2/3 cup organic sunflower, canola oil or melted unsalted butter 

1 ¼ cup brown sugar

4 eggs

6-8 ripe bananas 

½ cup plain yogurt

1/2 -1 cup refrigerated sourdough discard (up to 1 month old) * optional

1 cup toasted pecans or walnuts

In a large bowl, whisk together all purpose, spelt, ground flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.   

Cream oil or butter with brown sugar in an electric mixing bowl using the whisk attachment. Add eggs, one by one. Mix in mashed bananas, yogurt and sourdough discard, if using.  

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix/fold gently until combined.  

Pour into two greased bread loaf pans.   

Bake 60-70 minutes or until a tester comes out clean from the centre of the loaf.  Allow to rest in the pans for 5 minutes. Carefully turn out on to baking racks and leave to cool.