One loaf, ten thick slices, an hour and ten minutes from start to sliceable. The flour is a gluten-free 1:1 blend that already contains xanthan gum, which is what holds the crumb together in the absence of gluten.
Three very ripe bananas — about a cup and a quarter mashed — carry most of the moisture and much of the sweetness. Half a cup of brown sugar does the rest, and that is deliberately less than a wheat-flour loaf of this size usually takes.
Why This Recipe Works
- A 1:1 blend with xanthan gum already included needs no additional binder for a loaf this size.
- Whisking the dry and wet mixtures separately gets the raising agents evenly through the flour before any liquid reaches them.
- Folding just until combined keeps the crumb tender; gluten-free batters go gummy when they are beaten.
- Scattering two tablespoons of chips on top rather than folding them all in is what makes the chips visible in the finished slice.
- Fifteen minutes in the pan before turning out lets the loaf set enough to hold together.
Ingredient Notes
- Gluten-free 1:1 baking flour
- A cup and three quarters, with xanthan gum already in the blend. Where gluten has to be avoided, it needs to be a certified blend.
- Very ripe bananas
- Three, about a cup and a quarter mashed. Very ripe is a quantity of sweetness as much as a texture — an underripe banana gives a paler, drier loaf.
- Chocolate chips, split
- Three quarters of a cup folded through and two more tablespoons scattered over the top. Chips are not automatically gluten-free; the packet has to be checked.
How to Make It
Oven on, pan lined
Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line an 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan.
Whisk the dry
Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
Whisk the wet
In another bowl whisk mashed banana, eggs, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla.
Fold, then the chips
Fold dry ingredients into wet just until combined; fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips.
Bake and test
Spread batter in the pan, scatter remaining chips on top, and bake 50 to 60 minutes until a tester comes out with moist crumbs but no wet batter.
Cool before slicing
Cool in the pan 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack before slicing thickly.
Reading the Tester
This recipe gives a ten-minute window rather than a time, and settles it with a test the baker has to interpret. Two things can come out on a skewer and they mean opposite things.
Somewhere between fifty and sixty minutes, what comes out on the tester?
Moist crumbs cling to it, but nothing wet
It is done. Cool in the pan 15 minutes, then onto a rack before slicing thickly.
Crumbs mean the batter around the skewer has set into cake. A gluten-free loaf taken further than this dries out faster than a wheat one, because there is no gluten network holding water in the crumb.
Wet batter comes out, or the skewer is smeared rather than crumbed
Back into the oven, within the fifty-to-sixty-minute window.
The centre is still batter. Three mashed bananas is a lot of moisture for one loaf and the middle is the last part to set - which is exactly why the recipe gives a range rather than a single time.
Nothing at all comes out - the skewer is clean and dry
Take it out immediately.
A completely dry tester means it has gone past the moist-crumb point. The loaf will still slice, but the crumb the recipe is aiming for is the one that still has moisture in it.
Success Tips
- Line the pan as well as greasing it — a gluten-free loaf is more fragile turning out than a wheat one.
- Stop folding the moment the flour disappears.
- Read the tester rather than just removing it: moist crumbs clinging to it is done, any wet batter is not.
Serving Ideas
Ten thick slices from the cooled loaf, two to a white plate, the dark crumb dense with chocolate chips throughout.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can this be made in a slow cooker?
No. It is an oven-baked loaf; the crust and the risen shape come from fifty to sixty minutes of dry heat at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Is everything in this gluten-free?
The recipe is written to be, but packaged ingredients vary. Where gluten avoidance is medically necessary, use a certified flour blend and check the chocolate chips too.
How do I know when it is baked?
A tester that comes out with moist crumbs on it, but no wet batter. Somewhere in the fifty-to-sixty-minute window, depending on the pan.
