COCONUT FLOUR BREAD

What began as my attempt to put to use some over–ripe bananas and making a coconut flour banana bread, got turned into a simple coconut flour chocolate chip bread instead. I had earlier made cookies using coconut flour, but it was my first time using coconut flour for making bread. And that was one reason I had chosen bananas since they felt like a safe bet as they would have added lot of moisture to the coconut flour because coconut flour happens to be very dry and absorbs a lot of liquid to ‘bind’ well.

I had measured out and assembled most of the ingredients for making coconut flour banana bread but thankfully I had not mixed them all yet.  It was only oil and sugar that I had added to the mixing bowl. I had also cracked the eggs. Next to go in were the bananas and when I picked the bananas to mash them, they were not over ripe, they were rotting! By appearance it looked as if they had nicely ripened (with brown spots all over the skin) but inside, they had turned soft and not in a good way. I had clearly underestimated the power of Indian summer. So there I was, standing dumbfound in the kitchen with ingredients laid before me, ready to bake a banana bread with no bananas at hand. (Yeah, I should have first checked the bananas…lesson learnt)

I quickly thought of how to salvage the situation. Did some quick calculation on how to make a plain coconut flour bread. Since over ripe bananas would have added lot of moisture and sweetness to the bread, I reworked the recipe to make it work without bananas. I decided to increase the amount of eggs along with oil and also sugar. And the final result surprised me delighted me. It turned out perfect! It was soft and moist with a beautiful texture and so delicious! Lest I forget (as I did when I first tried my besan cookies), I quickly scribbled the amount of ingredients I had adjusted for the recipe, coz I knew for sure that it had to be shared here 🙂

For Bread

1/3 C plus 2 tbsp Oil OR 100 gm melted Butter

¾ C – 1 C Coconut Sugar (we prefer our bakes and desserts less sweet so ¾ C was okay for us)

5 fresh Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 C plus 1/3 C Coconut Flour

½ tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Baking Soda

½ C Chocolate Chips OR roughly chopped semi-sweet Chocolate

Set the oven temperature at 175 degree C to pre-heat it.

Prepare a loaf pan of 10 inch by 4½ inch size by greasing it and dusting it with flour or by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.

Whisk together the coconut flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

Whisk together the sugar and oil or butter, whichever you are using. Then whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Once they are well incorporated, fold in the coconut flour till there are no dry patches. Mix in the chocolate chips and transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan. (I rolled the chocolate chips in some flour so that they do not sink in the batter while baking)

I like to scatter some chocolate chips over the top along with cacao nibs and some shredded coconut to add some crunch and also for optics. But it is purely optional.

Bake for approximately forty to fifty mins or till the skewer inserted in the centre of the bread comes out clean. (time will depend on the thermostat of your oven)

Remove the loaf pan from the oven and place it on the wire rack for ten to fifteen minutes. Carefully release the bread from the pan and place it on the rack again, to cool completely. Slice and serve. Enjoy!

Yield – 12 Slices (each 2 cm thick)

Note – Try to use fresh eggs (they will have thickish white portion) for this recipe. If your eggs are old, the white will be ‘liquidy’ / runny and that will affect the ratio of coconut flour to eggs. If liquidy, add an extra one third cup more flour to bring it to the right consistency. OR simply use four eggs instead of five.

Note – The coconut flour I used had xanthan gum added to it but there is no  mention of the ratio of xanthan gum to coconut flour. Second, the coconut flour was not very fine. However, it was perfect for baking and yielded a beautiful crumb. Next I am going to use it for making pancakes.

Note – I also recommend adding cacao nibs to the bread. You can add it to the batter or sprinkle it over the top. I gives a lovely texture and also adds to the taste 🙂 Highly recommended!

Thank you for your visit and see you soon again, for another exciting recipe!

6 thoughts on “COCONUT FLOUR BREAD

  1. Wasn’t expecting the chocolate chips. What a tasty little addition. I’ve been looking for a simple quick bread to take on a trip next week. This is perfect. I have both the coconut sugar and flour and of course the chocolate. 🙂 thanks!

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