The world at this moment is filled with talk of essential activities. What is an essential activity? It is quite clear at this moment that we could do without or reduce the prevalence of many of the activities that are currently being classified as essential and the world would be a better place. Baking a vegan banana bread for your individual consumption would not be considered an essential activitiy by any standard, but the world would undoubtedly be a better place if there were more breads of this sort being baked and shared. I am comfortable saying this despite baking a bread of this sort requiring one to engage with a defective global economy and purchase ingredients that have a profound environmental and human impact. If you do the calculations, which I have, the ratio of joy:violence in a loaf of vegan banana bread is quite high.
So, I propose that you think about these questions from Virgina Woolf while your banana bread cooks in the oven for 50 minutes at 180C or 350F:
“Let us never cease from thinking — what is this ‘civilization’ in which we find ourselves? What are these ceremonies and why should we take part in them? What are these professions and why should we make money out of them? Where in short is it leading us, the procession of the sons of educated men?”
Ingredients
- 4 overripe bananas (~9 of the small bananas)
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (I use panela)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil of some kind
- Coconut oil to grease the pan
- 2 cups all-purpose flower
- 3.5 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped nuts. (I use Brazil nuts and walnuts)
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- Chop up nuts and toast them in a pan for 3-5 minutes on medium heat until golden-brown. Set them aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180C or 350F.
- Mash bananas in large bowl.
- Add sugar and oil to mashed bananas. Mix thoroughly.
- Add flower.
- Add baking powder, cinnamon, and salt on top of the flour.
- Distriute/mix dry ingredients on top of mixture quickly before mixing them into the banana/oil/sugar. Only mix just enough to ensure that all of the ingredients are properly incorporated and distributed – probably less than a minute – as mixing too much can lead to insufficient rise. It should end up being thick and dough-like.
- Add nuts and cranberries and gently fold them intot he mix. Avoid over-mixing.
- Grease your mold with coconut oil that is solid at room temperature.
- Evenly spread the batter throughout the dish.
- Toss it in the oven. Bake for around 40-45 minutes – don’t forget about the Virigina Woolf quote.
- Remove from the oven and let rest in the dish for a few minutes.
- Flip upside down and remove bread from tray to let the rest of the crust breathe.