Name: Banana Bread
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 large Banana; 115 g Unsalted butter; 150 g Caster sugar; 2 piece Eggs; 1 tsp Vanilla extract; 250 g Plain flour; 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda; 3 g Fine sea salt; 1 tsp Ground cinnamon; 80 g Shelled walnuts

About this dish

Banana bread became a fixture of American home baking in the 1930s, when baking soda and baking powder were widely available and cooks were reluctant to throw away overripe fruit. It is a quick bread, leavened chemically rather than with yeast, which is why it comes together in one bowl and needs no kneading or rising. The riper the bananas, the sweeter and more fragrant the loaf, so the blackened ones at the bottom of the bowl are the ones to use.

Vegetarian
Not vegan because of Unsalted butter, Eggs
Contains gluten because of Plain flour
Contains dairy because of Unsalted butter

Ingredients

8servings

3largeBanana
115gUnsalted butter
150gCaster sugar
2piecesEggs
1tspVanilla extract
250gPlain flour
1tspBicarbonate of soda
3gFine sea salt
1tspGround cinnamon (optional)
80gShelled walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Heat the oven to 175 °C and line a 23 × 13 cm loaf tin with baking paper. Peel the very ripe bananas and mash them with a fork in a large bowl until mostly smooth, with a few small lumps left.
10 min
Tip: Bananas with brown or black skins are sweeter and softer, and they carry more banana flavour. Leaving a few lumps gives the crumb little pockets of fruit.
Melt the butter and let it cool for a few minutes. Whisk it into the bananas with the sugar, the eggs and the vanilla until well combined.
5 min
Tip: Cooling the butter first stops it from cooking the eggs. Whisking the wet ingredients together evenly means you can mix the flour in briefly afterwards.
Mix the flour with the baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and sift or stir it into the banana mixture. Fold gently with a spatula until just combined, then fold in the chopped walnuts. Pour into the tin and level the top.
5 min
Tip: Stop as soon as no dry flour is visible. Overmixing develops gluten and makes the loaf tough and rubbery instead of tender. The baking soda reacts with the acid in the bananas to lift the loaf.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 55–60 minutes, until deep golden and a skewer in the centre comes out clean. If the top browns too fast, cover it loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes.
60 min
Tip: A moist crumb on the skewer means it needs longer, but a few dry crumbs are fine. Foil slows the browning of the top while the middle finishes cooking.
Leave the loaf in the tin for 10 minutes, then lift it out onto a wire rack. Let it cool for at least 20 minutes more before slicing.
30 min
Tip: The crumb is still setting while it is hot, so cutting too soon tears it. Resting also lets the moisture spread evenly through the loaf.