Some recipes do not begin with a plan. They begin with whatever happens to be in the kitchen, a little curiosity, and the hope that the result might be useful enough to make again.
This loaf was one of those recipes.
I made it from ingredients that felt practical rather than ambitious: wholemeal flour, bananas, blueberries, eggs, whey, and a little olive oil. What came out was not a light banana bread in the usual sense, nor was it something polished or bakery-like. It was denser, more substantial, and much more functional. In other words, it turned out to be exactly the kind of thing that fits well into real life.
That is probably why I liked it so much. It worked.
It sliced well, stored well, and felt like a genuinely useful thing to have ready in the fridge. One piece made a good breakfast. Another worked well before the gym. It was sweet enough to be enjoyable, but not so sweet that it felt like dessert pretending to be breakfast. The bananas gave it softness and natural sweetness, the blueberries broke things up with small bursts of fruit, and the wholemeal flour gave it enough structure to feel filling rather than airy.
There is something I like about food that does not try too hard. This loaf is not elegant, but it is dependable. It belongs to that category of homemade recipes that become part of routine simply because they make life easier. In the middle of a busy week, that matters more than perfection.
Ingredients
- 193 g seeded wholemeal flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 small bananas
- 0.5 cup blueberries
- 1 scoop whey protein
- 1 spoon yeast
- 15 ml water
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 175°C fan and line a loaf tin with baking paper.
Mash the bananas until mostly smooth, then add the eggs, water, and olive oil. Mix until combined. Add the flour, whey, and yeast, stirring until you have a thick batter. Fold in the blueberries, spoon the mixture into the tin, and smooth the top.
Bake for around 45 to 55 minutes. If the top begins to brown too quickly, cover it loosely with foil. Once a knife comes out clean from the centre, remove the loaf from the oven and leave it to cool before slicing.
Approximate nutrition
When cut into four pieces, each slice is roughly:
Closing note
What I like most about this loaf is not that it is impressive, but that it is honest.
It is a practical recipe, made from everyday ingredients, that quietly does what it is supposed to do. Sometimes that is exactly the kind of recipe worth keeping.