Simple Banana Bread a la Housewife, MD

I would honestly say that I have mastered my simple banana bread since I’ve been making this for quite sometime and have improved over and over. I had a lot of tasters for this recipe already (from different people of different nationalities with varied taste buds) so I am pretty confident with how it will turn out. Hopefully, the article will transcend the same thing in your kitchen, or else my confidence is of no use! 😀

I have very simple ingredients that aren’t out of this world but the most important thing about the recipe is that you have to use almost over ripe bananas and that’s an open secret for the best banana bread. Doesn’t matter if you opt for Cavendish or Plantains (but not lady fingers for this recipe), as long as it is golden yellow and with black spots. The aroma would also be sweeter compared to less ripe ones so better let the bananas hang for a while before you make it an ingredient.

In my version there are two different ingredients I used but still replaceable by conventional ones. Like the butter, I replaced it with Olive butter just for lesser guilt 😛 and I used Rapadura sugar instead of brown or Muscovado sugar. Rapadura sugar is the unrefined type. I preferred this because it produces stronger flavor almost liquor like.  Muscovado and other “organic raw’ sugar are still refined. For more info about sugars, please check Quirky cooking site.

I am going to cut to the chase and present my recipe!

Materials:

• Bowl (2)
• spatula/ wooden spoon
• fork
• sieve (optional)
• measuring spoons
• loaf pan (9×5 inch pan)

Ingredients:

• 4-5 very ripe bananas, peeled about 1 1/2- 2 cups, mashed
• 1/3 melted butter, salted or unsalted (I used a olive spread for lesser guilt)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup Brown sugar (I used Rapadura sugar)- you can always adjust it depending on your level of sweetness, may use 1/2 cup or may go crazy and use 1 cup. 
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 1/3 cup walnuts, crushed (optional)
• few pieces of Pecan for toppings (optional) 

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C (or 350°F)
2. Butter all sides of the pan or may use oil spray. In my case, I use coconut oil spray for baking.
3. In a mixing bowl sift the flour, baking soda, and pinch of salt then set aside
4. In another bowl, mash the bananas until smooth, then add the butter and mix.
5. In the banana mixture add the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon and walnuts. mix well until homogenous looking.
6. Then add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and incorporate well.
7. Add the wallnuts and mix well.
8. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan. Top with Pecans. Make sure that the batter settles half way from the bottom so that there’s space for the bread to rise.
9. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

1. Using a toothpick, pierce at the center and if there is no tugging it’s baked appropriately. If there are few but not too wet, let it just stand for a while.

1. Rest in a cooling rack for 30 minutes- 1 hour.
2. Slice, Share and Enjoy!

Here’s a quick video!

Total time: 1.5 hours to 2 hours

• 15 minutes prep time
• 45- 50 minutes baking time
• 30-1 hour cooling time

Serves: 6-8 slices