You definitely have not grown up baking if you do not get really excited at the sight of brown bananas. Every time I open the fridge to find these treasures, I think “It’s that time again.” You guessed it—if the title did not give it away already—it is time for banana bread.Everyone has recipes for banana bread, so this is nothing ground breaking; this is just my take on it. This is a recipe I have developed over years of not having the right ingredients or supplies to make anything.
Most banana bread suffers the unfortunate fate of tasting like baking powder. This is something that is hard to get past, as a very specific ratio of baking soda to baking powder is required for banana bread to taste just right—and somehow, no one knows what that ratio is. Fortunately for me, baking powder has the shelf life of roughly six months, and I do not use it nearly enough to ever justify buying it. This recipe ends up being good in two ways: it makes good tasting banana bread without a hint of baking powder, because—and here is the kicker—there is no baking powder in it.
But enough talking, here it is:
Easy Banana Bread
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (feel free to eyeball this)
- 1 teaspoon salt (feel free to eyeball this)
- ½ cup softened unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 or 4 brown bananas (although amount is subjective)
- ½ cup milk (or buttermilk if you’d like)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (feel free to eyeball this)
- Large bowl, medium bowl, and optional small bowl
- A mixer (hand-held is fine, not required but preferable)
- Solid measuring cups
- Liquid measuring cup
- Wooden spoon
- Folk or spoon, your choice
- Loaf baking pan (9 x 5)
- Serving plate (optional)
- Cooking spray and toothpick (you will need these every time you bake)
- Roughly mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in the large bowl. (This bowl will eventually hold everything.)
- Mix the softened butter* and sugar together in the medium bowl using a mixer* until you get a fluffy mixture. The sugar should get fully incorporated and you will get large lumps.
- Add the eggs one at a time, and mix them in fully.
- Mash the bananas. You can do this in the small bowl using a fork or spoon. *Definitely read the notes underneath for this. Add the bananas to the sugar and butter mixture.
- Add the milk and vanilla and mix fully.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold the mixture over with the wooden spoon until everything is incorporated.
- Spray your pan* and pour the mixture in*. Fill it up to about 2/3 because it will rise.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake for about an hour on the lower-middle rack. It will turn golden brown, and the edges should separate from the pan a little. Poke a toothpick through the middle, it should come out clean*.
- If your butter is coming straight out of the fridge, microwave it for about 20 to 30 seconds. This will make it soft. Do not melt the butter.
- If you do not have a mixer, use a fork. It will take longer, but works just fine.
- If you don’t have cooking spray, you can spread a little bit of vegetable oil or butter on the pan, and throw a bit of flour on it (that is all cooking spray is anyway).
- If you are not afraid of raw eggs, feel free to taste the extra mixture left on the bowl. It is delicious.
- A clean toothpick means that there is no liquid mixture on it. It may have a little banana, taste it if you are not sure.
- If you want to add nuts to this, you can. Walnuts work best. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet, and bake them for about 5 to 10 minutes at 350 F. Chop them up using a chef’s knife, and add them in with the flour.
