Banana Bread
May 19, 2012 by Visual Recipes | 0 Comments| Share it:
About this Banana Bread Recipe
Banana bread is a sweet quick bread that makes for a delicious dessert, breakfast, or snack. This easy banana bread recipe creates a moist, dense loaf with a touch of spice from the nutmeg and cinnamon. Like most banana bread recipes, this recipe includes walnuts for added texture and crunch. If you don’t like walnuts, you can easily omit them. In order to make the banana bread a tad healthier, I use some whole wheat flour in place of some of the all-purpose flour. This adds extra fiber and protein to the banana nut bread. If you don’t have any whole wheat flour, just replace the amount with all-purpose. For those who want a very healthy banana bread, you can experiment by reducing the sugar or replacing most of it with honey or agave syrup. You can even try using apple sauce or sour cream in place of the oil. If you find a variation that you enjoy, please leave a comment about it at the bottom of this page.
You could easily make banana nut muffins with this recipe by putting the banana bread batter into muffin cups instead of loaf pans. If you are looking for a full banana nut muffin recipe click here.
For this banana bread recipe you will need 2 bread loaf pans that are 8.5 inch long, 4.5 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. If you have 9 inch by 5 inch pans, those will work too, but one of your banana bread loaves will be much smaller than the other.
For the best banana flavor use ripe or overripe bananas. You can tell by looking at the peels. If the banana peel is bright yellow with no green or has brown specks that it is ripe. If the peel is brown it is overripe.
Banana Bread Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour + extra for dusting bread loaf pans
- 3/4 cup wheat flour
- unsalted butter for greasing bread loaf pans
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg - freshly grated
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 lemon - 3 teaspoons lemon juice + lemon zest from the whole lemon
- 3 bananas - very ripe. Peeled and chopped.
- 3 large eggs - at room temperature
Step 1
Preheat your oven to 350º Fahrenheit.
Rub butter all over the bottom and the sides of the bread loaf pans.
Step 2
Add some flour into each of the loaf pans. Shake the flour around the bottom and sides to coat the pan evenly. Once the pans look like the image at the left, shake out any excess flour.
Step 3
Place the walnuts on a sheet of aluminum foil and place them in the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes to toast them. Once toasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool on the aluminum foil.
Step 4
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Step 13
Wash your lemon under water and dry it. Using a zester or a grater, zest the lemon into the bowl with the eggs and bananas. Zesting removes the yellow peel on the outside of the lemon. The lemon zest will add additional flavor to the banana bread.
Step 14
Add the sugars, 3 teaspoons of lemon juice, vanilla, oil, and nutmeg into the bowl with the eggs and bananas.
Step 15
Stir everything together until thoroughly mixed. Be sure to break up and clumps of brown sugar with your fork.
Step 16
Pour about 3/4 of the banana mixture into the well you created in the bowl containing the dry ingredients.
Step 17
Step 18
Add the remaining banana mixture and stir just until you no longer see any white flour and the mixture is smooth. You do not want to over-mix because it will make the banana bread tough.
Step 19
Step 20
Spoon the banana bread batter into the loaf pans. If you are using 8.5 inch by 4.5 inch loaf pans then they should both be about half full. I'm using 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pans. As you can see I filled one about half way and just put the leftover batter in the other pan.
Place the loaf pans in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. You will see that the banana bread will shrink from the sides of the pan. Test that the banana bread is done by inserting a metal skewer into the center. If the skewer comes out without anything stuck to it, it is done. If the skewer still has batter on it, continue cooking. You do not want your banana bread to be raw in the middle. If the banana bread isn't done yet but the top is starting to go past a golden brown color, place a piece of aluminum foil over the bread in a tent shape. This will help keep the top from over browning. Once the banana bread is fully cooked, remove the pans from the oven and allow them to cool. Once cool, you should be able to easily remove the banana bread from the loaf pans.
Serve your banana bread with butter or cream cheese. You can even toast it to add crunch and some extra flavor.
Now that you have learned how to make banana bread, please be sure to view these other fruit bread recipes.
Recipes Similar to Banana Bread
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