Banana Focaccia

It's not actually foccacia.

Introduction

I’ve often been stressed by not having a fully equipped kitchen. I lack a food processor, sieves and strainers, there’s no spatula or ladel, no bread tin, etc. There’s a lot missing. But after putting up with this for a while it becomes second nature to be a little more inventive in making recipies you want. That’s how, one cool Sunday afternoon in my little studio, a friend and I charted our way around our current understanding of banana bread and found a ‘banana foccacia’ as a result. It’s not very different from what you’re used to, just really quite flat.

Equipment

  • A wide pan or pasta dish with sufficiently tall sides. About 30x15cm.
  • A mixing bowl.

Ingredients

  • 3 bananas, at any stage, but preferably not green.
  • 250g of self-raising flour.
  • 50g of blueberries.
  • Coconut flakes.
  • 100g of sugar.
  • 75ml of sunflower oil

Notes

A note on bananas: You’ll want to handle these first. They’re probably not overripe. You’re a busy person, you don’t have 3 days to schedule bread. Give them a good squeeze a couple hours before, or buy them on your way to work and just rough ‘em up a bit in your bag. Get creative. You want that process to start where the enzymes get released and all the sugars start to seep in. The best way to start this is with a little violence, then you should only need to wait an hour so. Serves 1, or 4. It’s up to you really.

Recipe

  1. Throw the bananas, sugar and oil into the mixing bowl. Crush it all together with a fork, or blend smooth if you have an immersion blender.
  2. Throw in the coconut flakes, blueberies, flower, and any spice you’d like then mix until homogeneous enough.
  3. Lightly oil whatever pan you have, then spread the mixture thin across it.
  4. Throw in the oven at 200C. It’ll cook pretty quick, and wont rise a lot, just do a clean fork test if you feel like it. I recommend 10 minutes, turn, then 10 more.
  5. Remove and leave to stand.