Best Banana Bread

I love bananas. I love banana bread. I’ve been searching for a good banana bread recipe for a while. “Doesn’t seem like a difficult task,” you may be thinking, but I was seduced into trying recipes that included things like cloves or ground ginger. Recipes that include spices are the painted whores of banana bread recipes, seductive in their cheap and easy appeal, but in the end, unsatisfying distractions from pure banana-y goodness.

This recipe is excellent, no distractions and full of banana appeal.

The key to good banana bread is ooverrrrripe bananas. If they look ready to throw out, in a few days they’ll be ready.

These could have used a few more days, but I was impatient (And you need about two more for this recipe.)

So:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 C. (one stick) butter at room temperature, or wave it in the micro until soft
  • 3/4 C. brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2-1/2 cups mushy mashed overripe banana

Method:

0. Preheat oven to 350 degrees or 175 decimal degrees, and lightly grease a 9 x 5 ” loaf pan.

  1. Cream butter and sugar:

2. Add the eggs to the bowl and beat with a fork.

3. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

Add everything and stir. As much as I love banana bread, its consistency is a little dull, so I add chopped walnuts. And you can add anything like raisins, currants, dates, etc.

After ovening it, be patient for an hour or so . . . then the usual check with a toothpick that comes out clean. This is a very dense bread.

Yum!

-R