One type of happiness comes in the form of Classic Banana Bread . As the aroma filters through your home, a sense of calmness infuses your soul. This recipe came from a dear friend of mine many years ago who said it had was from one of her mother’s favorite cookbooks. By altering only one of the ingredients and replacing another, you will find it absolutely comforting with each bite you take.
Cream the softened butter and sugar together then mix in the eggs. Blend in the mashed bananas with the buttermilk. (You could use water as stated in the original recipe.)
Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the flour and mix in the remaining flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt.
We are almost there! One more step!
Dusting the toasted nuts with a bit of the reserved flour will help the nuts suspend themselves within the batter and not sink to the bottom of the bread.
Add the dusted nuts, with any flour remaining, to the batter; slowly mix until distributed evenly throughout.
Now we are ready! Place the batter in a prepared loaf pan. This one is a 9″ x 5″ ceramic loaf pan.
Bake for 55 minutes( metal pan), or in this case, 1 hour 10 -15 minutes. Ceramic or glass does cook slower than metal since it conducts the heat differently. After an hour, the top was a nice brown, but the toothpick test yielded a middle that was still wet. To avoid a darker top, I covered it with foil and checked for a middle that didn’t reveal wet batter every 5-10 minutes until the toothpick came out clean. That was a nice rise!
Here’s a top view with a nice crack busting out a warm aroma.
After letting it rest for about 5 minutes on he cooling rack, slide an offset spatula around the sides and remove the bread from the pan back onto the rack. Allow it to cool before slicing, if you can.
Alright, I’ll admit I couldn’t wait…. I don’t know if the darker color was due to the golden sugar I used or the prolonged baking time. I guess I’ll have to make this in a metal pan to compare and report the results. It’s texture is perfect for slicing and it’s so moist!
Perfection….
Slather some butter on this (warm) Classic Banana Bread and take a bite! Toast some of this lightly to go with your morning coffee. Yum! You can wrap what remains in foil and refrigerate. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 c turbinado sugar, (Sugar in the RAW) granulated sugar may be used
- 1/3 c softened butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 c mashed ripe bananas, (3-4)
- 1/3 c buttermilk
- 1 2/3 c all-purpose flour
- 1 t baking soda
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/4 t baking powder
- 2/3 c chopped walnuts, toasted
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- Mix butter and sugar together until butter is blended well with the sugar.
- Blend in eggs on low speed just until incorporated.
- Blend in buttermilk and mashed bananas.
- Mix in flour(except 2 tablespoons), baking soda, salt and baking powder.
- Toss the 2 tablespoons of flour you held out with the chopped walnuts. Then blend in with rest of the batter.
- Pour batter into loaf pan that has been rubbed with a folded paper towel lightly coated with oil(olive or avocado).
- Bake for about 55-60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack. Loosen the sides using an offset spatula and remove from the pan. Cool completely before slicing.
