Easy and Delicious Molasses Banana Einkorn Bread

This Molasses Banana Einkorn Bread (isn’t that a mouthful!) was inspired by the recipe created by A Modern Homestead. While other people commented under the recipe on their page about different sugar substitutions, or the type of flour, I felt like my substitutions went a little beyond that. So I decided to give my resulting bread its own recipe page.

Especially because it came out tasting more like gingerbread cookies if they were a chewy brownie.

Yeah – literally. There isn’t much of a banana taste underneath the molasses. And the texture is so chewy with a little bit of crust on the top that it’s closer to a brownie than an actual bread. So…molasses banana Einkorn bread it is.

But if you’re looking for an awesome Banana Einkorn Bread instead, please make sure to check out the original recipe posted by A Modern Homestead! I’m so glad I found their recipes, because their instructions are super clear. And they know a lot about working with Einkorn flour. Make sure to check them out.

First, What is Einkorn Flour?

Einkorn is the only remaining wheat grain that has NOT been genetically modified. And while apparently they only modified it so that farmers had an easier time growing it (wheat stalks used to get really tall and break easily), sometimes that’s not always the whole story. For instance, Barbara O’Neill says that regular genetically modified wheat (even whole wheat) has such a high glycemic index that it can spike your blood sugar higher than white sugar!

Yikes, right?

But Einkorn flour, since it’s not genetically modified, has a much lower glycemic index. It’s not low enough to be called low glycemic, but it’s better than the genetically modified wheat. It also has a little bit less gluten, although it’s not totally free of it. So if you’re Celiac: it’s best to avoid this and go with an alternative (non wheat) flour.

I may attempt this recipe with an alternative flour in the future – my tigernut flour needs to be used by June. But I haven’t baked much with it before so I’ll need to figure that out first (anyways – stay tuned).

And Sprouted Chia Seed Eggs?

I try not to work with real eggs because I have a mild allergy to them. It’s usually okay when it’s well incorporated and cooked in baked goods…but I rather not risk it these days. So I keep trying alternative eggs. This time, I had purchased sprouted chia seeds for the nutrition they offer, so I had them on hand. And then I read somewhere that regular chia seeds could be used as an egg substitute.

So I hoped that sprouted chia seeds weren’t that much different and could also be turned into an egg substitute. Turns out that was correct!

To make one egg, mix a teaspoon of sprouted chia seed with two and a half teaspoons of water. Let it sit for about five minutes. The sprouted chia seed seemed to gulp down the water really fast and then it firmed up and became a little gooey. Mine came out a little more firm than a regular egg yolk, so you could try adding a bit more water but…this still worked for me.

Other alternative eggs are: applesauce, and gelatin eggs. I usually use one of those two, but I didn’t have them on hand this time.

And Why Blackstrap Molasses?

So in Canada we have this store called the bulk barn, which carries bulk baking needs (and a bunch of other sweets, treats, nuts, beans, spices…etc). They have bulk amounts of everything in these giant bins, and people can fetch the amount they need and pay for that. I went there to look at the different sugar options, intending to come home with cane sugar to make this recipe.

But as I got looking at the nutritional info for cane sugar, and some other sugars around it, I suddenly didn’t want the cane sugar. Date sugar seemed a lot healthier. The only downside? It’s expensive. Like…as if it’s a premium sugar. I didn’t want to settle for a sugar that didn’t have much nutrition, though. And that’s when I remembered blackstrap molasses.

Blackstrap molasses is really high in things like magnesium, iron, phosphorus, and more. Seriously, search it up because this is amazing. And from my understanding, it’s a natural sugar, too. I think it’s the last syrup press of the cane stalk, so it’s not super sweet like other types of molasses. But it’s still a little sweet. So I decided to get some of that and use that as my sugar substitute.

Bonus: it’s affordable because most people avoid it. Their loss! It’s great as a drink, too (just add a teaspoon to warm water and stir). Heaven in a cup, and great for luteal phase.

But No Alternatives for the Butter?

Normally I would sub butter for coconut oil, but…the butter was on sale last week. Like, it’s usually 8$ for 454g of butter (ridiculous, I know), but it was on sale for 5.99. So I decided to get some and use that because I didn’t want to go through my coconut oil super fast.

I’ve also seen other recipe creators say that coconut oil doesn’t work as well with their Einkorn recipes. I think it was something about…making the bread dry and crumbly? And I remembered reading on A Modern Homestead’s page that Einkorn flour is a bit different to work with (in terms of moisture). So I decided to stick with the butter for this first attempt.

Coconut oil usually works well with regular flour (I’ve made regular banana bread recipes with it before). But since Einkorn handles moisture differently, it might require some other adjustments. But for this time: I just wanted to have a delicious bread without many problems, so I stuck with the butter.

How this Heavily Modified Banana Einkorn Bread Turned Out:

While baking, it smelled like regular banana bread right up until the 40 minute mark. But for the last 10 minutes, the smell of molasses took over. I wondered what that meant for the bread, and found out not long after it came out. Adding the blackstrap molasses made it TASTE like molasses. Or more specifically, like gingerbread cookies (which are also made with a healthy dose of molasses). I could probably add some ginger powder and it would make it even closer.

And the texture…it was perfect, and completely unexpected. It tasted like a brownie. One of those perfectly chewy (but not too chewy) brownies. I thought about calling this recipe a chocolate-free brownie for this post because it tastes so close to one. All of this surprised me because the batter was so thick after mixing everything in – I thought it would come out like a cake!

It didn’t rise very much either; it stays pretty much the same height. I noticed in A Modern Homestead’s video for their recipe that theirs did rise a little on top. So I’m thinking that I might not have put enough baking soda in. Instead of 1/2 teaspoon (an oversight on my part), I should have used the full teaspoon. In future attempts, I’ll be making sure to add enough because I think I read somewhere that it creates some kind of reaction that gives a little rise.

A Quick Note about Equipment:

I don’t have a lot of tools at my disposal. So I used a bunch of bowls, spoons, measuring cups, a fork, and a bread loaf pan. I mashed the bananas with the fork until they were as mashed as I could possibly get them. And everything else was mixed by hand, too. Using a mixer might make things a lot easier, if you have one. But what I’m trying to say is that you don’t NEED it if you want to make this recipe.

Mashing the bananas was the same difficulty as mixing in the sprouted chia seed egg + blackstrap molasses. So prepare to use some muscle. But…it’s totally doable without anything special.

Anyways, if you try this molasses banana einkorn bread recipe, I hope it turns out just as awesome for you! Happy baking!