Brown Butter Strawberry Banana Bread

Summer still hasn’t arrived around here but I’m pressing on with the summer recipes in the hope it will arrive sometime soon.  This bread bridges the gap between gloom and sun nicely because banana bread always says comfort to me no matter what the weather is up to.  The fact that strawberries are involved makes it a summery treat.  As I type this I am looking out the window at the wind battering my garden and a garden chair fallen on its back that I shouldn’t have left out in the first place.  I am thinking I wish I could have a slice of this banana bread right now.

I adapted this recipe from Joy the Baker to make it gluten free.  This was quite a challenge for several reasons.  First of all the original recipe is measured in cups but I am used to baking by weight.  Unfortunately I didn’t have gluten free all purpose flour to hand and since different flours can be quite different in weight I had to do some rough estimations.  The bread turned out just fine but I would say if you have gluten free all purpose flour then maybe check the original recipe and sub that.  Experiment and see how yours turns out.  I’d love to know.  I also played around with the amount of sugar and butter reducing both as I don’t like my cakes too sweet and upping the banana content.  I ended up with lovely moist bread.

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes 1 9x5 inch loaf

100g (4oz) unsalted butter melted and browned

175g (6oz) brown rice flour

50g (2oz) cornflour

50g (2oz) unrefined golden caster sugar

1 tsp gluten free baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

¾ tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup natural yoghurt

4 ripe bananas mashed

½ cup diced strawberries plus extra for slicing on top.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 180°C, 350°F.

Prepare a 9 x 5 inch loaf tin.

Place the butter in a small pan and heat gently.  Once the butter has melted it will begin to foam and crackle.  As the crackling subsides the butter will begin to brown.  When it starts to smell nutty it should be ready.  Swirl it round the pan to keep it from burning.  Remove to a bowl and leave to cool.

In a large bowl combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.  In a separate bowl combine the eggs, vanilla extract, yoghurt, mashed bananas and brown butter.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well ensuring the flour is fully mixed in.  Fold in the diced strawberries and transfer to a loaf tin.  Add the sliced strawberries to the top and bake for 1 – 1 ½ hours until a skewer inserted in to the centre of the loaf comes out clean.  Leave the bread in the tin for 15 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to fully cool.