Sourdough Chocolate Banana Bread with Rye and Protein

The natural sugars in the bananas, which you can use fresh or from frozen, caramelize beautifully while roasting and add an addictive layer to this Sourdough Chocolate Banana Bread. We have cocoa and chocolate chunks that melt and coffee liqueur to support the dark chocolate flavour. Wholewheat and rye flour to add nuttiness. And all that with a good hit of protein, to cover your nutrition needs.

 

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• Why You Will Love This
• The Ingredients
• How to Make This
• Meal Prep

Why You Will Love This 

TL;DR

• For me staying on track during 70lb weight loss included having a sweet treat every evening
• Sweet cravings are non-negotiable — having a healthy option ready prevents unhealthy snacking
• Added protein to support overall nutrition, especially with age
• Protein powder replaces some flour and sugar — boosts each slice to around 6g of protein
• Also works well as a breakfast option
• Lower in calories — around 200 calories per slice thanks to reduced sugar
• Includes sourdough discard, which adds a gentle tang and helps reduce waste

Treat Yourself and Lose Weight Anyway

The one thing that kept me on track while losing 70lb in a year was my sweet treat in the evening. While I really love the freshness of salads, which I eat nearly every day, at the end of the day I want something sweet. There is absolutely no way around it. If I don’t have something sweet and healthy around, you can bet I find a bar of chocolate somewhere and munch it.

So my strategy is, to make one sweet and healthy treat on my meal prep day, that I can have over the week, while watching Netflix or reading. Am I the only one with that habit? Please tell me I’m not alone…

Added Protein

One of my main requirements in desserts is, that they have to include protein, since I’m usually not getting enough of it. Considering the many benefits protein has, especially as we are aging, I started making it a priority and adapt recipes by swapping some of the flour and sugar to protein powder. This chocolate banana bread comes with about 6g per slice, making it a pretty viable dessert and breakfast option.

Why Do I Add Protein?

You mean apart from the well known physical benefits of protein for the body like helping you to build muscle, keeping your bones strong and increasing satiation, meaning you stay fuller for longer and with that can maintain your weight easier?

Lesser known is, that it also effects the brain by helping it to effectively transport information through neuropathways using the amino acods found in Protein.
This even has been shown to help protect from age related dementia.

If you’d like to read more about how and why I use protein, I wrote a blog post about it.

And another one about my weight loss journey, shedding 70lb within 1 year. Protein played a big part in that too!

With all those benefits, it’s no surprise that the recipes containing both sourdough and protein were popular enough for me to shift my focus.

Low Calories

The swap to protein powder also means I can leave out some sugar, meaning you only get about 200cal per slice.

Use up Sourdough Discard

Apart from the lovely gentle tang the sourdough discard adds here, it’s a great way to use up your discard. Don’t worry, it won’t make your dessert taste sour. It just gives it this little extra you can’t define.

I wrote a whole post on why I use sourdough with added protein and how it benefits you here.

Here are 10 delicious Sourdough Protein Recipes.

Ingredient Notes

I found a spiced banana bread recipe many years ago and fell in love with it. Only issue: It was incredibly high in sugar and fat, without any nutritional value, except the bananas. Meaning I had to modify it, to fit my lifestyle.

The swaps were pretty easy, but make an impact on both calorie and nutrition front.

• I reduced the sugar, as we will be using protein powder, (Link not affiliated or sponsored. Just my favourite one) which already adds sweetness and replaces some of the white flour.
• Bananas add sweetness, moisture, fibre and potassium. They are pre-roastedf with a bit of sugar, which gives this banana loaf an absolutely irresistable caramel flavor.
• Whole wheat flour for nutrition and nutty taste, rye for even more flavour and a surprisingly moist bread.

Note:

Cups, due to the possibility of compacting the flour while dragging the container through it, can give you wildly different results. Use a tablespoon to gently fill the cup with flour, then drag the back of a knife over it to level. This should give you the closest to the standard 120g per cup of flour.

Alternatively, if you have kitchen scales, assume 120g flour per cup and weigh it out.

In some of my recipes I will give gram measurements for this reason, but I mostly try to accommodate the American cup system.

• Also, sourdough discard, which is fantastic to use in many sweet recipes, adding flavour and nutrition. It’s a small amount, so you won’t have the pronounced flavour as in bread, but a slight tang going beautifully with the sweet banana bread.
• I’m also adding some coffee liqueur or (alternative espresso powder), to support the dark chocolate flavour even more.
• And, because it’s a treat after all, I’m keeping the chocolate chips. I mean, why would we have Sourdough Chocolate Banana Bread without chocolate chips? That would just be silly, wouldn’t it? Well, to me anyway.

Using up frozen Bananas

More often than not, I want said healthy(-ish) treat to include chocolate. Dark preferably. My all-time favourites are brownies. Like the linked sourdough version.

I do however always have frozen bananas around. Why? Because when it comes to eating fresh bananas, I only like the ones that are still slightly green. I know, I’m weird. And proudly so.
So I end up freezing the rest.

Apparently most people really enjoy them in smoothies, but I’m just not the biggest fan of drinking my sweets, let alone half frozen. I mean, I live in Ireland. We have about 1 day of summer per year, so cold treats are not particularly high on my list of wants. Though I do occasionally make nice cream. But more about that another day. What to do with all those bananas the keep getting brown? Freeze and make Banana Bread of course! In particular roasted, as they caramelize and get even better.

I’ve used fresh ones in the picture here but made it another day with said frozen ones and it worked great. They do release more juices when baking, so the batter needs a little more flour to compensate.

Equipment used

Glass bowl

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Measuring Cups

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spatula

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pyrex containers

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loaf pan

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How to Make this

Roast The Bananas

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan * or line it with parchment paper.

Peel the overripe bananas and place them in a greased ovenproof dish. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder over the bananas. Roast them in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until they become soft and release their juices. Remove from the oven and let them cool slightly.

Mix The Dry Ingredients

In a mixing bowl, combine the sourdough discard and the protein powder. Whisk * them together until they are thoroughly mixed and smooth.

Add the egg to the sourdough-protein mixture and whisk * again until well combined. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the rye flour, whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Mix them together.

Mix The Wet Ingredients

In another bowl, mash the roasted bananas until they are smooth. Add the melted and cooled butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and coffee liqueur (or espresso mixture). Mix well to combine.

Pour the banana mixture and the protein-sourdough-egg mix into the dry ingredient bowl and gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined. Do not overmix.

Add the chocolate chips to the batter and fold them in.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan * and spread it evenly.

Bake The Banana Chocolate Bread

Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean with only a few moist crumbs.

Once baked, remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, or it might fall apart. Then, transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool completely. Or eat slightly warm, which is utterly irresistible.

Treat for the week: Done.
Protein needs for the meal: Covered.
Happy Bunny status: Achieved.

Meal Prep

Sourdough Chocolate Banana bread keeps in the fridge for about 4 days. I wouldn’t leave it on the counter due to its high moisture content. It also freezes really well for up to 3 months. You could slice it and separate the pieces with parchment, the just toast them when you need a little chocolatey pick-me-up.

Other recipes you might enjoy

 

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

And if you enjoyed this recipe, please consider rating, sharing, or leaving a comment – your feedback truly helps my blog grow!

 

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