Nana Bread with Pear and Walnut

So ISO has got me baking and creating new recipes. Everyone is in the same boat, staying home, gorging on ISO snacks, and bingeing on Netflix. Aaron and I started watching OC, and we are hooked. But we are also trying not to watch tv all day, so getting groovy in the kitchen is where I enjoy being.

Banana bread seems to be that one bakery treats that everyone can bake. I had some pears left over from my produce delivery, so why not combine the two?  This recipe is easy to make, and ingredients are easy to find if you don’t have them already in your kitchen.

If you are not a baker, it's time to learn a new skill.

You Will Need:

1 tbsp flax seeds

1 cup rice flour (any flour you have on hand)

1 cup unbleached self-raising flour                              

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

2 ripe bananas, peeled – optional one extra for on top 

1 Packham pear, peeled and chopped into cubes (Packham's are available for most of the year)

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup non-dairy milk (you can make your own from oats and water)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of walnuts, broken into small pieces

How to make:

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan forced (190°C conventional); line a bread tin with baking paper (try and find compostable paper so you can compost after use) 

Place the flaxseeds in a small bowl and add 3 tablespoons of water, stir and set aside. 

In a mixing bowl, sift the flour into the bowl; add the baking powder, bicarb soda, salt and cinnamon.  Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.

Place the two bananas, maple syrup, milk and oil in a blender and blend till smooth. Add the flax seed to the mixture and stir well to combine.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined; add the pear and walnuts (leaving some walnuts for the top) and fold them into the mixture. Pour the mixture into the bread tin.

Slice the extra banana in half for decoration and place in the middle, sprinkling the walnuts in between the banana on top. Bake for 45- 60 minutes or until the skewer is inserted in the centre and comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and rest for 20 minutes before removing it from the tin. If you have a wire rack, transfer to the rack for a further 20 minutes (if you don’t, remove it from the tin and place on a plate).