Sourdough Banana Bread (Vegan)

Yes, I caught the sourdough bug and I am knee deep in sourdough recipes and ideas. Now with a healthy starter that just keeps growing I have needed to find other places to put all the extra starter. I thought to myself why not add it to banana bread. I have seen many people make sourdough banana bread and apparently it makes it more moist (I hate this word) and helps it rise.

Throughout the testing process, I wanted this to be a very tasty banana bread that was not too heavy with oil and sugar but still had all the great things about banana bread. Using the starter really helps make the banana bread moist without adding too much oil, which is generally the case for regular vegan banana bread. In addition, I wanted a tall banana bread that really looked like a slice of bread, which the starter gladly gives the banana bread. 

Aside from lower oil, this banana bread has little refined sugar because of the addition of dates, so no need to worry too much about a sugar high after eating a slice. You will definitely satisfy your sweet craving without the added side effects. 

I must warn you that you need to put this bread away as soon as it is ready to be sliced because once you start digging into it, it will all be gone in a matter of days. IT. IS. THAT. GOOD.  

What you are going to need

• Three spotty and ripe bananas: the riper they are the less sugar you will need. I have completely omitted sugar if my bananas are incredibly soft
• Sourdough starter: I share all you need to know about making a starter in my Sourdough 101 block post (click here)
• Dates: I love sweetening my recipes with dates because in addition to the sugar, it comes with a lot of fibre and nutrients. I use the cheap dry dates not medjool, which can be quite expensive
• Coconut Oil: I love the flavour coconut oil gives and it really allows the bread to be nice and moist
• Rising Agents: baking powder and baking soda are essential in vegan baking, they really allow the bread to rise. Plus with the tangy sourdough starter, the baking soda has an acid to react to to give the dough a nice lift
• Flavouring: I love to flavour my bread with vanilla and cinnamon but you can really go crazy with this. I have also tried nutmeg, cloves, cardamon and ginger. All superb additions
• Flour: I used a mixture of oat flour and whole wheat flour. Honestly I didn’t want to use plain AP because I had already put in so much work to make this healthier (such as adding less sugar and oil) and didn’t want all of that to be canceled by the flour. So this was just another way to take this a next step, to make this truly and indulgent and healthy recipe

How to Make Sourdough Banana Bread

1. Feed the levain and activate it
2. Soak the dates to make them easier to work with
3. Mash the bananas then add the soften dates and the rest of the wet ingredients
4. Add the dried ingredients and mix well
5. Add batter in a well oiled loaf pan. I used a 9.5 inches by 5.5 inches loaf pan
6. Let the dough sit to rise
7. Bake in the oven till perfection

IMPORTANT reminder: PLEASE let the banana bread cool down completely before you slice it. I know it is very tempting, but trust me. Slicing into the dough too early does not give the gluten the time to set so that it stays nice and tall. Plus if you cut it too early it will crumble a lot. What I do is that I bake the bread after dinner–about an hour before I go to bed–so that it cool enough to slice into for breakfast the next day.

Print Recipe

Sourdough Banana Bread

Baking

By Afia – Serves: 10-12 slices

Prep Time: 5 hours – Cooking Time: 45 minutes – Total Time: 6 hours

Ingredients

• 225 g 100% hydrated levain
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup dried dates
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/3 tbsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup brown sugar*
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup dates water
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds*
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts*

Instructions

1

For the levain, I used leftover starter I make fresh for my weekly sourdough loaf. In the morning, I combine 25g mother starter with 100g flour (I used 75g whole wheat and 25g white bread flour) and 100g water.

2

When the levain has more than doubled in size, is very bubbly and has passed the float test (drop a small piece of the levain into a glass of water to check if it floats), then it is ready.

3

In a bowl, soak the dates with about 1/2 cup of steaming hot water. Let the dates sit covered for a few minutes till soft. Set aside 1/4 cup of the hot date liquid and then drain the dates. Mash the dates with a fork till you get a paste 

4

Mash in your bananas (I used a fork) and then mix in the dates and all your wet ingredients (coconut oil, vanilla essence, date liquid and starter)

5

Once the wet ingredients are well combined, add in the rest of the ingredients and mix it all very very well. The starter is quite tacky so it needs a good mix to really get into the batter. 

6

Once everything is mixed, grease a loaf pan with a little bit of coconut oil and then pour in the mixture.

7

Set the banana bread aside for 20 mins, which will allow it to rise a little bit 

8

In the meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375°F

9

When the oven is nice and hot and the 20 mins has elapsed, place your banana bread in the oven for 40-45 mins till a toothpick comes out dry. I would check the 

10

When the loaf is fully baked, slide it out of the pan and let it dry on a cooling rack till completely cool

11

Slice and enjoy

12

I like to store it in room temperature for a few days but it can be stored for weeks when frozen. 

Notes

The sugar, pumpkin seeds and chopped walnuts are optional. I have made a loaf without any of these and it turns out perfectly. The sugar is adjustable depending on how ripe your banana is. My bananas were very ripe so the loaf did not need it

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