Fresh banana bread, spiced with vanilla (Recipe)

Fresh baked bread is undeniably one of the tastiest fresh foods we’ve ever invented. So why not go a step further and make it more exciting with spices! This recipe uses vanilla pods, one of the most exotic and fragrant spices known. Fresh vanilla pods are incredibly easy to use, and also are much more flavourful than vanilla extract. To extract fresh vanilla, first slice a vanilla pod in half, then use a knife or spoon to scoop out the delicious paste inside. The heavier your vanilla pod, the more paste you’ll get! Here’s a picture taken with one of our Vanilla pods.

This recipe is taken from Girl Meets Cooking | Celia Hu (thanks for the feature Celia!), read the editorialised version on her site.

Lavender Banana Walnut Bread

Ingredients

(Makes one loaf)

1.25 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp fresh vanilla paste
80g butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tbsp culinary lavender
1 tbsp oat meal

Method

1. Pre-Heat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2. Smash up the culinary lavender to release their fragrant oils. Add the lavender to the dry mix of flour, salt, baking soda, vanilla, sugar, and walnuts. Use a fork and mash up the bananas, stir in with the melted butter, vanilla extract, and eggs.

3. Stir in the dry bread mix into the pulpy banana mixture, taking care not too mix too vigorously (or you’ll end up with tough bread!) Line a bread loaf pan with wax paper, and pour the whole lot into the pan. Sprinkle over with oat meal for a “rustic” look.

4. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 50 minutes until golden brown. Do check from time to time as ovens cook at different rates.

Current market price for Vanilla

1 pod (sample) price: USD 6
5 pods (approx. 25g, 0.88 oz) price: USD 25
10 pods (approx. 50g, 1.76 oz) price: USD 40
20 pods (approx. 100g, 3.5 oz) price: USD 75