Banana bread is such a delicious and classic comfort food. Plus it really helps enforce the "waste not" mindset. Did your family recently go on a banana kick then everyone gave up andw left you with a bunch of browning bananas? No problem! Wait until they're just right and make banana bread!
I petitioned
Facebook for a good banana bread recipe and one friend suggested using the recipe on the side of King Arthur brand flour. That's the brand I use so I figured I should give it a try! It turned out perfectly! I altered the recipe a little but not too much. I think just less sugar and whole wheat flour were my changes.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (about 4 or 5) very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups of whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Topping for extra flavor:
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Optional:
- 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
Directions:
Gather your ingredients.
Ultra ripe bananas. The more brown they are, the sweeter they are!
Oh and don't drop an egg like I did. Oops.
Preheat your oven to 350ºF then grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Peel your bananas and put them into a large mixing bowl.
Mash them well.
Add the oil, sugar, milk and vanilla and mix them together well.
Now mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Thoroughly mix them together. Be sure to scrape the sides so nothing is left unmixed. This is where a stand mixer would come in handy!
Pour the batter into your greased and floured loaf pan and spread evenly.
Stir the cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle on top of the batter.
Put it in the oven for about an hour or until a toothpick or knife comes out of the center clean.
In an hour it should look something like this! Crumbly and delicious. (Sorry for the blurry photos!)
Let it cool for about 10 minutes then remove the loaf from the pan and let it finish cooling on a cooling rack.
If you can wait that long to dig in!
We actually don't have any cooling racks in the house which is odd, but then again I don't do a ton of sweets baking. So as you can see, my trusty cutting board did the job just fine.
Baked to perfection.
My husband LOVES banana bread so when it was cool enough to handle, we cut that sucker open!
The directions on the flour bag say you get 16 slices but I think we managed 18. It just depends how thick or thin you want them.
Spread a little butter on there and you're good to go! No wait, I take that back. Cold, hot, toasted, buttered...any way is a good way to eat this banana bread! Pouring the batter into a muffin tin is also a delicious alternative!
Mmm.
I've actually decided that from now on it should be called banana cake because "bread" is such a deceiving word. It's cake...come on now, people. Bread doesn't have that much sugar in it! Well, it shouldn't anyways.
What's your favorite banana bread recipe? Do you buy bananas specifically for making banana bread or is it just a happy accident when a bunch gets brown in the house?
Till next time,
Catherine
