Self-Raising Flour Banana Bread (Vegan) – Baking Basics

If you’ve ever thought ‘can you use self-raising flour for banana bread?’ then this is the recipe for you! It has been specifically developed using self-raising flour to produce the best vegan banana bread ever. The recipe is very simple to make as it doesn’t need any egg replacers or dairy substitutes so you probably already have all the ingredients you need in the cupboard. This banana bread is super moist and soft with a lightly sweet flavour.

Self-Raising Flour Banana Bread Recipe

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Ingredients for self-raising flour banana bread explained

• Overripe bananas: you want bananas which are nice and ripe for this recipe as this will give you the best flavour & sweetness.
  • They should be a bit soft with either spotty skin or fully blackened skin. You can either use fresh, ripe bananas or frozen, defrosted bananas. I usually let my bananas get super ripe and then I freeze them whole! To use them for baking I just take them out of the freezer, put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes to defrost a bit and then I peel them and squeeze out the inner flesh.
  • The mashed banana in this recipe also replaces the need for using eggs!
• Light brown sugar: I like to use a light brown sugar as it has a slightly caramelised flavour which works beautifully with the bananas. You can use coconut sugar, white sugar (granulated or caster) or dark brown sugar in the recipe although this will change the flavour slightly.
• Oil: Using oil makes this recipe super simple to pull together. I like to use a neutral oil like vegetable oil or sunflower oil but you could also use a light olive oil, melted coconut oil or even avocado oil. If you’re not vegan, you can also use melted butter.
• Self-raising flour: this is a pre-mix of plain white flour and baking powder in a fixed ratio. I usually make my own DIY self-raising flour using this recipe. If I’m buying it, I use the Doves Farm brand as it has a low protein content i.e. it is lower in gluten so will produce a softer cake. You can use a wholemeal self-raising flour instead, if you wish.
• Bicarbonate of soda: it’s necessary to add a bit of extra lift to this recipe as the self-raising flour alone isn’t enough to lift the cake adequately. Bicarbonate of soda also helps the loaf to brown.
• Cinnamon: I like to add a bit of ground cinnamon to the banana bread for that warming, toasty flavour but you can leave it out if you don’t like it.
• Demerara sugar/walnut topping: this is optional but I like to sprinkle the top of the loaf with these before baking. The sugar adds a crispy crust and the walnuts add flavour and crunch. Leave it off if you prefer.

Can you freeze banana bread?

Yes you can, you just need to let the loaf cool completely then place into a resealable sandwich bag, seal & date/label it. Freeze for up to 3 months. You can also pre-slice the loaf before freezing so that you can defrost a few slices at a time.

Can you make wholemeal banana bread?

Yes just replace the weight of self-raising white flour with self-raising wholemeal flour. If you can’t find self-raising wholemeal flour, use 228g of wholemeal pastry flour + 1 tablespoon baking powder.

Can you make banana muffins with this recipe?

Yes simply line a standard muffin tin with 12 muffin liners and divide the batter evenly between them. Bake at the same temperature for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean.