I love blueberries and banana bread. For years, I’ve been making this regular banana bread with blueberries with wheat flour, and I’ve been missing it terribly ever since I unexpectedly became gluten intolerant in the last several months and couldn’t eat any regular baked desserts. Well, no more missing or crying over my blueberry banana bread, as I have just successfully made a gluten free version of it, using King Arthur multi-purpose gluten-free flour (and no gums whatsoever)!
This banana bread tastes just like a regular banana bread – so delicious, you can’t stop at one slice! I am coming to a conclusion that as long as you add some sort of fruit into a gluten free baking recipe (mashed bananas and whole blueberries in this case) – it’s bound to turn out really good. It happened with this gluten free peach yogurt cake, and it happened with this beautiful banana bread:
This recipe uses King Arthur gluten-free multi-purpose flour (mixture of rice flour, tapioca starch, etc.). This flour is xanthan gum free, it doesn’t have any gums. Make sure not to confuse King Arthur gluten-free multi-purpose flour with King Arthur gluten-free baking mix (which does have gums).
I’ve noticed that when baking gluten free cakes and breads, they tend to stick to baking pans much more than if you baked with regular, wheat-based, flour, so it’s very important that you first grease the bread pan and then line the bottom and two sides of it with parchment paper, greasing the parchment paper, too. Just like on this photo:
When releasing the bread from the pan, I let it cool for at least 40 minutes, and then I used knife to help release the sides of the pan which were not lined with parchment paper.
The bread was so delicious, I am about to make 2 more loaves (one for myself, and a second one for the party on Friday!) So happy to have my blueberry banana bread back! 
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) melted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons chia seeds
- 4 teaspoons of hot boiling water
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 cups gluten-free multi-purpose flour (I use King Arthur), sifted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 4x8 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom and two opposite sides of the pan with parchment paper, butter the parchment paper too. Note: lining the bottom and two sides of the pan with parchment paper ensures that the bread will not get stuck, especially if baking with gluten free flour.
- In a small bowl, combine 1 and 1/2 teaspoons chia seeds with 4 teaspoons of hot boiling water - stir to mix and let the mixture sit, covered for about 10 minutes, until it forms a very thick gel-like slurry.
- In a large bowl, using electric mixer, mix mashed bananas, Greek yogurt and melted butter. Add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and chia seeds slurry - beat to combine, using electric mixer. Sprinkle the baking soda over the mixture and mix in, using the mixer. Add the flour last, in 3 separate batches, again using the mixer to combine each batch.
- Carefully fold in whole blueberries, using spatula, into the batter and distribute them evenly through the batter.
- Pour the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for about 1 hour. Check the doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center of the bread as well as inserting it along the sides of the bread. The toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the center - without liquid batter stuck to it.
- Cool the bread in the pan on a rack for 40 or 50 minutes before releasing it from the pan. When releasing the bread from the pan, use knife to help release the sides of the pan which were not lined with parchment paper. Remove from pan and slice to serve.