How You Can Make Banana Bread

We all know banana bread - it is that yummy, moist sweetbread that we make out of those nasty old black over-ripe bananas. “Don’t throw these bananas away!” - turn them into banana bread instead. 

First Banan Bread Ever?

Banana bread recipes started appearing in cookbooks around 1930s. Banana bread is not an actual bread mainly because you use baking soda instead of yeast. The mixture does not form dough to be kneaded and then set aside to rise, just a thick batter. Since it is so easy to make it is more and more popular. It is the most common in cafes in Australia where it is served at breakfast. 

There are several distinct variations of this uncomplicated recipe, like healthy banana bread, or this banan bread recipe etc... Here is a classic version of homemade banana bread but before we start maybe one more thing about bananas - they are actually pretty good for you and your health. You can check out their nutritional value here.

Homemade Banana Bread Ingredients 

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon buttermilk

Directions 

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place peeled bananas in a small bowl and mash them with a fork. Stir in buttermilk and set this aside.

3. In a larger bowl mix together the butter and sugars till they are fluffy.

4. Add the egg and beat until nicely blended.

5. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl.

6. Alternate adding the dry ingredients plus the banana mixture for the butter and sugar inside the mixing bowl. Start with the dry ingredients and end with the dry components and generally beat completely.

7. Coat a 9” by 5” loaf pan with cooking spray. Spoon the batter into the pan and spread it out evenly.

8. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. The bread is done when is dark golden brown. Insert a toothpick directly in to the middle and if it comes out clean, the bread is done.

To make this banana bread recipe a bit different you can also add some other fruits to the recipe. the main difference is that you must always mash the bananas but leave other fruits in pieces and spread them out evenly throughout the batter. Fruits that you can use are for instance blueberries, peaches cut to pieces, cherries and all sorts of other fruits. Just experiment. You can also use dry fruits if you like.

That's it - enjoy!