Vegan Banana Bread (Wheat-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)

Sometimes I get the sudden urge to bake things and then I discover that I'm missing some fairly critical ingredients: either late at night, early in the morning, or when I've run out of money for the week and have to rely only on the things in the house. The other day I wanted to get rid of some bananas that were slowly turning an upsetting shade of brown, and then I discovered that I had no eggs... and eggs are pretty vital when it comes to baking most things.

However, I put two and two together in my mind: I don't have eggs => who else doesn't have eggs? => vegans don't eat eggs => find a vegan recipe. So I did.

Luckily for me, I found this recipe online and adapted it for use with spelt flour and it worked a treat! Through my research I learnt that in a lot of vegan cookery eggs are replaced either with bananas or applesauce, which was ideal given that I needed to make egg-free banana bread.

I will note that, unlike cakes and biscuits where one can get away with replacing some of the flour with cornflour, one must use all spelt flour in tea bread, otherwise the texture is compromised. A tea bread needs to be firm enough to be cut into slices, and the addition of cornflour makes the crumb too fine, leading to breakage when you attempt to cut it. That's just my experience, anyway.

INGREDIMENTS
This will yield one 8x4 inch (21x10 centimeter) loaf.

• 8 ounces (230 grammes) white or wholemeal spelt flour
• 1 rounded tablespoon baking powder (yes, that's a lot. It's needed to compensate for the lack of air incorporated into the beaten eggs; it doesn't affect the flavour)
• 2 to 3 teaspoons cinnamon, or mixed spice for added interest
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) soft brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 large overripe bananas
• 3 fluid ounces (85 millilitres) sunflower oil
• Optional: 2 ounces (55 grammes) dried fruit or nuts

HOW-TO

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate). Grease and flour a loaf pan.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, and spice into a large mixing bowl. If you are using dried fruit or nuts, mix them into the dry ingredients to coat; set aside.
• In another bowl or large jug, mash the bananas with the sugar, oil and salt until smooth and runny.
• Then, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the banana mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon only until combined. You don't need to beat it, as the texture will be tough if you do.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes. Test the loaf with a cocktail stick, and if it's still sticky in the middle, bake for a further 5 minutes. Repeat this process if needed. Baking this bread is not an exact science: every banana will be slightly different in size, therefore every time you make this the cooking time will slightly change.
• Remove from the oven once baked and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Consume in swathes in lashings of butter, raspberry jam or peanut butter; that is not a serving suggestion, that is an order...