Almojábanas
Small Colombian cheese breads made with precooked corn flour, queso fresco, mozzarella, eggs, milk and baking powder. This documented home version makes eight breads and is served warm.
Modern adaptation
Liberian rice bread
A Liberian-inspired rice-flour loaf with ripe plantain, banana and spices, baked until set.
Rice bread and ripe fruit
This University of Rhode Island adaptation combines brown rice flour with very ripe plantain and bananas. Its loaf is chemically raised and baked; rice bread recipes can use different rice products and proportions.
Sources for this section
Rice meal in more than one form
The Center for Applied Linguistics' April 2005 Liberian cultural profile distinguishes two preparations. It describes country bread as coarsely pounded new rice, eaten by the handful, while rice bread combines rice meal with mashed ripe bananas and other ingredients. The names therefore should not be treated as interchangeable formulas.
That account supports the rice-and-fruit association of this loaf, without specifying the university recipe's applesauce, spice blend or pan. It does not date an invention or establish one birthplace. This page retains the University of Rhode Island's stated adaptation rather than presenting its ingredient list as a historical standard.
Sources for this section
A loaf for several times of day
Hawa Hassan's rice-bread recipe, published by The Bittman Project in 2025, describes breakfast, midday and snack use in Liberia. Its cream-of-rice cereal and banana base differs from this brown-rice-flour, plantain-and-banana adaptation.
Those recipes document variation rather than authorising a direct swap between cereal, flour and starch. The university batch remains fifteen ingredients in an eight-by-four-inch pan, with its own bake and complete cooling before slicing. No storage life or special festival association is inferred from the serving context.
Sources for this section
History
Liberian rice bread is documented by contemporary recipe sources; no first attestation has been established.
Ingredients
Yield 1 loaf · Scaling: source batch only
Egg
2 whole
Sugar
59 mL¼ cup as recorded
Very ripe plantain
1 whole
Very ripe banana
2 whole
Applesauce
59 mL¼ cup as recorded
Vegetable oil
59 mL¼ cup as recorded
Low-fat milk
118 mL½ cup as recorded
Vanilla extract
2.5 mL½ tsp as recorded
Brown rice flour
473 mL2 cup as recorded
Ground nutmeg
2.5 mL½ tsp as recorded
Ground ginger
2.5 mL½ tsp as recorded
Ground cinnamon
4.9 mL1 tsp as recorded
Salt
1.2 mL¼ tsp as recorded
Baking soda
4.9 mL1 tsp as recorded
Baking powder
4.9 mL1 tsp as recorded
Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Contains egg and milk.
Do not taste raw batter; raw flour and eggs can contain harmful germs. Wash hands and surfaces after handling them.
Use care with the hot pan.
- Heat the oven to 350°F (about 175°C). Grease an 8 by 4 inch loaf pan.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the mashed plantain and bananas, applesauce, oil, milk and vanilla until smooth.
- In a second bowl mix the rice flour, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
- Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until combined. Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for about 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely before slicing.
Conditions
Yield1 loaf
Active time10 min
Places
Liberia
Documented preparation · Country evidenceThe university labels this recipe Liberian; a precise birthplace is not established.
Related
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Bannock (North American)
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Bara brith
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Bhatura
A North Indian fried bread made with yogurt, wheat flour and chemical leaveners. This source batch makes eight.
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Sources
University of Rhode Island Community Nutrition EducationInspiration · Method · Geography
Liberian Rice BreadAdapted formula, loaf pan size, baking time and Liberian association.
Cited in: Rice bread and ripe fruit; Rice meal in more than one form; A loaf for several times of day
Center for Applied Linguistics, Cultural Orientation Resource CenterContext
Liberians: An Introduction to their History and CultureApril 2005 profile, printed page 31, distinguishes coarse pounded-rice country bread from rice meal combined with mashed ripe bananas for rice bread.
Cited in: Rice meal in more than one form
The Bittman ProjectContext
Rice Bread2025 published recipe describes Liberian breakfast, midday and snack use; its cream-of-rice formula is distinct from URI's brown rice flour adaptation.
Cited in: A loaf for several times of day