Banana Walnut & Flax Seed Bread OR Banana Walnut & Flax Seed Cake

Hello Everyone,

I have baked this ‘Banana Walnut Flax Seed Bread’ as requested by my little boy. Ohh!! Did he really come and ask me to bake this lovely banana bread? NOO.. 😉

It happened so that while i was busy cooking, my little boy just got a plate, spoon and few bananas from the fruit basket. He just peeled them open and with the help of the spoon cut them into small pieces. Later, he just got the banana platter to me and said – ‘Maa Mum-Mum for U’..  Awww, my little darling I love you so much..  ha ha ha.. 🙂

Now, I had to make something with these bananas that were already peeled and cut into pieces.  And, the Banana Walnut Bread is the first thing to come in my mind. As I have baked them a lot many times with variations, i wanted to give it a healthy touch this time. No, I am not using wheat flour, as my hubby always liked the one baked using plain flour. But you can go ahead and use wheat flour instead – refer to the notes at the end for quantity 🙂

As we all know Flax Seeds has a lot of health benefits. I decided to include this in my banana walnut bread and make it more delicious & nutritious. It’s a perfect bread for tea time. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup   Unsalted Butter (soft)

1/2 cup   White sugar

3/4 cup   Brown Sugar

2   Eggs (room temperature)

3/4 cup   Walnuts (roasted and chopped, reserve 3 tbsp walnuts)

2-3   Ripe Bananas (mashed)

1/4 cup   Flax Seed Meal ( i.e. 3 tbsp flax seed mild roasted and powdered)

1 tbsp   Flax Seed

1 1/2 cup   Self Raising Flour

1/2 tsp   Baking Soda

1/4 cup   Milk

1 tsp   Vanilla Essence

1/2 tsp   Salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C and butter the loaf pan.
2. Shift flour, baking powder, baking soda, flax meal and salt in a bowl and keep aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk butter and sugar in a blender till its smooth, on a low speed.
4. Add eggs one at a time and mix. Stir in mashed bananas and vanilla essence and mix well.
5. Add dry ingredients in batches. Stir in strokes using your spatula. Add walnuts and little milk to the batter and give a stir so everything has mixed together. Do not over-stir.
6. Pour batter into the greased loaf pan. Then top the batter with reserved walnuts and flax seed.
7. Bake at 180°C for 40-45 mins with foil covered. Poke some holes in the foil. After 40 mins when the bread is almost or 3/4th baked. Remove the foil and further bake for 10 mins or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool on wire rack for 10 mins. And cut them into slices when completely cool.
9. This banana walnut flax seed bread goes very well with hot tea or milk.

Note:

• I have baked this bread a lot many times and with variations. For healthy option you can replace the self raising flour with wheat flour + 2 1/2 tsp baking powder.
• If you don’t have self raising flour at home, then simply use plain flour + 2 1/2 tsp baking powder.
• I had once baked a sugar-free version of this bread for my MIL, by using the artificial sweetener in place of white and brown sugar. And, it didn’t compromise on the flavor.
• Make sure you use ripe bananas for this recipe as I believe it helps to enhance the flavors.
• You can just skip flax meal and flax seeds to make a regular banana walnut cake.
• You can also add 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder for more flavor.
• Use a large loaf pan as there should be room for the bread to rise while covered in foil. ( mine got stuck with the foil this time and thus i had to plate my bread upside down. 😛 .. )
• The cake browns quickly after removing the foil, so keep an eye on the last 10 mins. Also, Different ovens work differently. So, i would suggest you to check once after 25 to 30 mins and then cover back with foil and let it bake.