Banana Bread
- Preparing Batter: 20 minutes
- Baking Time: 50 to 60 minutes
- Total Time: Approximately 1½ hours
Ingredients
For Single Recipe
(Makes 1 Loaf of Bread)
- Grease 1 standard loaf pan and set aside
Butter and Sugar to be Creamed:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ⅔ cup sugar
Eggs to be Beaten In:
Bananas:
- 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 2 bananas)
- The riper the bananas the more banana flavor your bread will have
Dry Ingredients:
- 1⅓ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
Optional Walnuts:
- ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts (use your fingers to break walnut halves into coarse pieces)
Ingredients
For Double Recipe
(Makes 2 Loaves of Bread)
- Grease 2 standard loaf pans and set aside
Butter and Sugar to be Creamed:
- 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1⅓ cups sugar
Eggs to be Beaten In:
Bananas:
- 2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 4 bananas)
- The riper the bananas the more banana flavor your bread will have
Dry Ingredients:
- 2⅔ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
Optional Walnuts:
- 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (use your fingers to break walnut halves into coarse pieces)
Instructions
-
Generously grease standard loaf pan(s); set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a large work bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy in texture.
- Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Remove skins from bananas.
- Place bananas on a plate and coarsely mash with a fork.
- Add mashed bananas to work bowl and mix in.
- Add dry ingredients and mix in on low speed. Once incorporated mix on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.
- Add optional walnuts and mix in.
- Pour batter into greased loaf pan(s).
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and cool on racks.
- Turn out and serve or wrap in foil and refrigerate or freeze.
Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker. New York: Scribner (1997).
Comments
Click on the following links for a variety of sweet breads featured in this cookbook: chocolate sweet bread, cranberry orange sweet bread, apple buttermilk sweet bread, lemon bread, or pumpkin bread.