I was completely blown away by this Spelt Banana Bread today and have to say it’s the best Banana Bread I have ever tasted. I have never used spelt flour before and have heard so much about it and yet knew nothing about it until now.

Last weekend I read with great interest an article in the Daily Mail about Roger Saul, the founder of designer label Mulberry and his journey in setting up Sharpham Park. It is here that organic spelt is grown and turned into Bran Flakes, Pearled Spelt, Spelt Flours, Spelt Risottos, Cereal Bars and Artisan Pasta.

Spelt is a great source of fibre and therefore Sharpham Park decided it would be a great idea to work with Bowel Cancer UK for their Bowel Cancer Awareness Month (April). The British Medical Journal has published research which shows that an increase in fibre, especially cereal fibre and whole grains can help to prevent bowel cancer. By adding 3 servings (90g) of whole grains into your daily diet you can cut your risk of bowel cancer by about 20%.

To promote their joint message they have collected some tasty high fibre recipes from 30 famous culinary friends which have been published online as “Great British Spelt Recipes”. The Spelt Banana Bread is from Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights by Sophie Dahl (Harper Collins). After today’s resounding success I can’t wait to try some more recipes out, I think spelt has put a spell on me! Not only is spelt high in fibre but it also contains plenty of iron, potassium, zinc, riboflavin and other vitamins and minerals. Also because of its unique gluten structure, it is far easier to digest than its distant cousin wheat and therefore great for people with wheat intolerance.

For more information on Bowel Cancer UK visit www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk or free phone 0800 8403540.

As this recipe uses up ripe bananas and store cupboard ingredients with hardly any butter I am entering it into this month’s Credit Crunch Munch which is a joint challenge run by myself this month and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours. I am also entering this months No Waste Food Challenge which is the fab Kate at Turquoise Lemons’ brain child and is being hosted by the equally fab Elizabeth over at Elizabeth’s Kitchen this month where the theme is fruit and this recipe is perfect for those over ripe bananas!

Why not pin for later?

Thank you to Sharpham Park for my samples of spelt flour and pearled spelt.

4.5 from 6 votes

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Spelt Banana Bread

Sophie Dahl says her Spelt Banana Bread is unadulterated manna - I absolutely agree!

Course Cake, Snack

Cuisine British

Keyword all in one, banana, spelt flour

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 6

Author Sophie Dahl

Ingredients

• 75 g soft butter plus extra for greasing and serving
• 4 ripe bananas mashed up
• 200 g soft brown sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 1 pinch of Salt
• 170 g spelt flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4. Grease a 13 x 23-cm/ 9 x 5 inch bread tin. (I used my largest loaf tin).
2. Pour the mashed bananas into a big mixing bowl. Mix in the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract.
3. Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix in the flour last. Pour into the prepared tin.
4. Bake for 1 hour, remove and cool, then serve in slices with a little butter.

Recipe Notes

I thought my mixture looked all wrong when I made it with flecks of butter but I needn't have worried it turned out perfectly!