27 August 2007

Recipe: Truly deliciously perfect banana bread

We had a glut of overripe bananas here recently because I've been buying huge bunches in hopes of making banana bread. I must have married a monkey, apparently, and then gave birth to a couple because bananas are often scarce around here. Even when I buy extra, they disappear quickly.
So last week I bought at least 25 bananas at different times throughout the week. And today I had a bunch that were sufficiently icky, so I made banana bread again. And today, it was perfect. This weekend I made a batch with much less sugar, and while good, was not great. This recipe is the best, I think. It has developed over trial and error and with enough adaptations that I think I can call it my own. Although if you make it and everyone loves it, you can call it your own, too.

Banana Bread

8-9 ripe bananas
2/3 cup olive oil
1 cup sugar (I've cut it down as low as 1/2 cup, I've also used sucanat, honey, agave nectar, etc. If you use a syrup, just add a bit more flour).
2 eggs
2 T vanilla
2 t baking soda
1/8 t. salt
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1-2 cup walnuts, if desired

Mash bananas with potato masher until just small lumps remain. Add oil, sugar, egg and vanilla and mix well. Sprinkle baking soda and salt on the banana mixture and mix well. Add the flour and nuts, if desired (I like putting nuts in one loaf and making one without) and mix just until combined. Do not overmix.
Pour into two greased bread pans. Bake at 325-350 for one hour (if using honey or agave, or if using dark pans, bake at lower temp.)
When done, allow to cool about 15 minutes in pans, then turn out. Try to share with loved ones.

2 comments:

Amalee Issa said...

April, do another post for your witty, charming and urbane readers to contribute towards, like your brilliant "100 things" post.

Also, I think you should know I have a rotting bunch of bananas in my pantry in order to make this bread.

A. Lin said...

I had a handful of rotting bananas, and your post inspired me to bake banana bread for the first time. I didn't use your recipe. And since I didn't have any flour, I had to substitute Bisquik. It must have been alright though because my 4 year old has eaten half of it today.