banana bread

updated
| wiki home | 2 min

Ingredients

  • 2/3 c. unsalted butter (and some butter for the pan; can use vegan butter)
  • 1 c. sugar (can be replaced by 3/4 c. maple syrup)
  • 2 eggs, large (can be replaced by 1/2 cup apple sauce, but be careful about liquidity if also replacing sugar)
  • 2 1/2 c. flour
  • NEW: 2 tsp ground cinnamon (also can try adding 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp ground cloves)
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/3 c bananas (best if drippingly overripe - approx 6 bananas)
  • NEW: 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 c. buttermilk (can be replaced by 1/4 cup full-fat unsweetend oat milk and 1 tsp lemon juice mixed together and left to sit for a few minutes)
  • 1 c. semisweet chocolate chips, 1 c. chopped walnuts, or 1/2 c. fresh blueberries (reduce liquids a bit if using blueberries)

Half-recipe vegan nutella-swirl version

  • 1/3 c. unsalted vegan butter
  • 1/2 c. sugar (can be replaced by 3/8 c. maple syrup)
  • 1/4 c. apple sauce (be careful about liquidity if replacing sugar)
  • 1 1/4 c. flour
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon (also can try adding and )
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
  • 2/3 c. bananas (best if drippingly overripe - approx 3 bananas)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 c. full-fat unsweetend oat milk, mixed with and 1 tsp lemon juice (leave to sit for a few minutes)
  • 1/3 c. vegan homemade chocolate-hazelnut spread (a.k.a. vegan Nutella)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300°F. (originally 325)
  2. Set out the butter until room temperature (not melted but if you stick your finger in it, it gives way).
  3. Mash the bananas.
  4. Cream butter.
  5. Add sugar and continue creaming until fluffy.

Creaming simply means mixing your butter and sugar(s) together until well blended, leaving you with a fluffy light yellow mix. Just do not over-mix! Butter and sugars are over-mixed when the butter begins to separate.

  1. Beat in eggs one at a time.
  2. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with bananas and buttermilk, mixing after each addition.

Sifting dry ingredients: I do sift my flour as I am measuring it but then I use a wire whisk to mix in the baking soda and salt. Adding alternately: I add half of the dry, then add the bananas, add the rest of the dry and then the buttermilk or something like that.

  1. Stir in nuts or chips.

Option 1. Bread

  1. Butter the pan.
  2. Pour into 2 greased 1-pound loaf pans. (I use 1 larger pan.)
  3. Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes at 300F or 1 hour at 325F in the middle of the oven. (Note: I’m going to test my oven temperature to double-check this.)
  4. Cool on rack.

Option 2. Muffins

  1. Pour into muffin cups (2 muffin tins with 12 muffin cups each).
  2. Bake for 15-18 minutes in the middle of the oven. [this at 325F]
  3. Cool on rack.

“It’s better to err on the side of a lower temperature than a higher temp. Part of the reason I prefer to make muffins is because this recipe is very moist and it can be hard to get a loaf baked all the way through. Love, Mom”

Original version source: my great-grandmother Adelia H., via my mom