Preheat your oven to 350°F and generously grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan or similar size with oil, making sure to coat the bottom and all sides to prevent sticking. This gives you time to prepare the batter while the oven reaches temperature.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, cane sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Whisking these together distributes the leavening agents evenly throughout the flour, ensuring your banana bread rises consistently and has uniform texture.

In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas, avocado oil, and vanilla. Mash the bananas until mostly smooth with just a few small lumps remaining—this creates the best texture for banana bread, giving it moisture while maintaining some structure. I find that overly smooth banana batter can make the bread too dense, so those small lumps are your friend.

Pour the dry ingredient mixture from Step 2 into the wet banana mixture from Step 3, and stir gently until just combined—do not overmix. A few streaks of flour are fine; overmixing develops gluten and results in a tough, dense loaf. Add the almond milk if the batter seems too thick; it should be thick but pourable, like cake batter.

Fold the chopped walnuts and dairy-free chocolate chips into the batter using a spatula, stirring just until distributed. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan from Step 1, smoothing the top with a spatula so it bakes evenly.

Bake in your preheated 350°F oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. The banana bread should be golden brown on top. If the top browns too quickly, tent it loosely with foil halfway through baking.

Remove the banana bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes—this allows the structure to set so it won't crumble when you remove it. Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. I always wait until it's completely cool before cutting into it, as warm banana bread can fall apart.