BUCKWHEAT BANANA BREAD WITH SALTY BUTTER

I’ve been baking this bread and variations of it for years – and now many of my friends make it on a regular basis. Banana bread is everyone’s favourite and this malty, not-too-sweet version toasts beautifully and was a stand-out hit at the café. Bananas not only flavour the bread in this recipe, but also work with the buckwheat to make the dough – that’s right, no eggs or gluten needed.

MAKES: 1 loaf PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

290g buckwheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon 4 ripe bananas, mashed, plus 1 ripe banana, sliced

1 tsp vanilla extract

60g raisins

30g walnuts

Lightly salted goats’ butter or dairy butter, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180ºc/ gas mark 4. Mix all of the dry ingredients, plus a pinch of salt, together in a large bowl.

Mash four bananas, 120ml of water and the vanilla extract together, then add to the dry ingredients. Mix in the raisins, walnuts and banana slices.

Transfer the mixture into a

750g loaf tin lined with baking parchment. Bake for 25 minutes, then turn to ensure even cooking, and bake for a further 15 minutes until firmish to the touch. Allow to cool before slicing, then serve with goats’ butter or dairy butter.

Recipes from East By West by Jasmine Hemsley (Bluebird)