I always know it’s time to make banana bread when my toes start getting attacked by frozen bananas. It usually begins with just one delinquent banana that’s made its way off of the freezer door shelf but slowly escalates as more bananas go south and end up gracing the racks of my freezer. And then, it happens: A meeting is held that determines the day and time that every last one of them will make their grand escape, fall ever-so-ungracefully on my toes, make me utter a few choice words, and meet their fate in my mixing bowl.
I have two recipes for banana bread that I absolutely love. The first being my mom’s which I’ve yet to gain permission to divulge and the second is this delicious little gem. There are 3 things about this recipe that make it special:
- It has a high ratio of bananas and butter which makes for very moist bread with tender crumb.
- It uses bread flour instead of all-purpose flour to keep the gummy-ness from so much moisture at bay and also gives it some structure.
- Its deliciousness factor is raised 10x by coating the pans and tops with just a bit of sugar.
Do you have bananas attacking your toes or am I the only crazy person that keeps old bananas in the freezer?
Ingredients
- 10 oz butter melted
- 2 1/4 C sugar
- 2 1/4 C over-ripe bananas mashed room temperature
- 3 1/4 C bread flour
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 350°
- Combine sugar with melted butter and stir in mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla.
- Pour flour over banana mixture and sprinkle with baking soda and salt.
- Mix just until no dry spots remain- do not over mix.
- Prepare pans by spraying liberally with cooking spray and coating the sides with sugar by swirling and tapping.
- Fill pans ⅔ of the way full and sprinkle more sugar on top.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes depending on pan size. Bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool and invert to remove loaves.
Hey, tried this today and tried my best to follow the recipe, but ended up accidentally mixing every ingredient in at once. I put 2 teaspoons of vanilla instead. So I put it in the oven for 40 minutes, took it out, and found that it was still really soft and gooey inside though it had risen a lot. So I waited another 20 minutes and then I realised – I hadnt put any eggs inside! In fact, I didnt even know there were eggs needed despite carefully reading it many times, goes to show how clumsy I am at these things. So I take it out and try it. And it’s the best banana bread it’d ever tasted. Moist and soft on the inside with a great crust on the outside, with a great banana taste that was not overly sweet.
So I take the leftover batter and add an egg to it and redo the process, and its delicious too, just that it tastes more like a cookie thing rather than bread, though its texture is more bready.
In the end, both variations turned out really great but I actually prefer the one where I had accidentally left out the eggs, so if you want a gooey-er bread you can try to go without eggs. Hopefully it wasnt a fluke. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad it turned out, even with the omission of the eggs! Thanks for sharing!
Excellent recipe!!! I’ve made this 3x and found that you need to bake the loaves for 1 hour. It also helps to put parchment paper at the bottom before spraying and sprinkling sugar to ensure the loaves come out clean. Super moist and yummy.
Thank you, Heather! I look forward to trying it soon!
Sorry . . . The recipe looks like it will make yummy loaves!
Karen
Hi Heather:
I’m new to your website. I found it searching Tasty Kitchen for bread flour recipes, and I do peel, mash, and freeze overripe bananas! Does this recipe make two 9×5″ loaves or two 8×4 1/2″ loaves? From the quantity of ingredients, it looks like 9×5, but I just want to be sure before I start. The looks like it will make yummy loaves!
Kind regards,
Karen
I beleive my pans are 8×4 1/2, but it will work with the larger size too– they just won’t be quite as tall.
Attacking Bananas – oh yeah, I hear you there!!
I usually peel them before putting them in the freezer because getting frozen bananas out of their peels skeeves me out (so I freeze them in plastic containers and the stacking usually helps with the jumping of bananas)
yum yum yum though
I need to get on the whole organized freezer bandwagon… 🙂
I enjoyed looking at your food idea. The rolls look wonderful. I am making a pasta dish soon for a very large group. The rolls would be quick and easy. I am a Christian mom blogger orginally from Alabama who now lives in Arkansas. I would be blessed if you visit and follow me at: http://www.recipesforourdailybread.com I look forward to following you on pinterest, twitter, and facebook. Blessings.
Hi Diane! So glad you found my site, I’ll be sure to stop by yours! Thanks for taking the time to comment, too 🙂
First off, hi!!! I can’t believe it took me this long since IFBC to get around to commenting on your lovely blog!
I was *just* going to google banana bread recipes (I have some favorites, but wanted to try something new) but stopped by here first…how serendipitous! Anyway, I can’t wait to try this recipe out. And no – you’re definitely not the only one with a bag of frozen brown bananas (in another bag to prevent freezer burn) in the freezer 😉
Meredith! Likewise, I have yet to visit and talk to many people since IFBC- glad you stopped by! I think I’m still trying to process everything from that weekend. 🙂
Yep! Many a bruise on the old feet from frozen bananas! But this recipe should help a lot! Thanks, Heather!