There is nothing more homey than a loaf of banana bread. It seems I constantly have bananas that have black spots on them on my kitchen counter, perfect to make Delicious Banana Bread. With nuts or without, it smells wonderful, it tastes divine and it makes your home homier!
This banana bread is moist and velvety smooth. It doesn't have the big brown flecks of most breads. It is bright yellow and so sweet and delightful. Making banana bread is almost a monthly ritual at my house. My son, Mark, sees bananas on the counter and asks,
"Are you making banana bread?"
How to Make Banana Bread
1. Mash or beat bananas until they are liquified. This can be done with a hand blender, a stand mixer or a fork. Just keep mashing them until they look like a liquid.
2. Beat eggs until they are a light yellow color, then add them to the bananas. Using eggs that are room temperature speeds up this process, but eggs from the refrigerator work just as well.
3. Mix the butter and sugar until well blended. Beating room temperature butter and sugar together for about 4 minutes. This is the optimum time to get the sugar crystals dispersed and suspended in the butter.
4. Gradually add the banana mixture to the butter mixture. This is where you do not want to over beat. Pour the banana egg mixture in a small stream as you add them to the butter and sugar. When the eggs are added and everything looks the same color and consistency, start adding the dry ingredients.
5. Add the dry ingredients intermittently with the buttermilk. Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and add 1/2 cup at a time to the banana egg mixture. Then add 2 Tbsp. of buttermilk. Keep adding all the flour and then the buttermilk until all ingredients are mixed in. Try and finish with the buttermilk. It makes a velvety batter for better tasting bread.
6. Pour batter into greased loaf pans. I like spraying the loaf pans with vegetable spray. Then I line the pans with parchment paper, going both directions with the paper. This makes taking the loaf out of the pan easier when it is finished baking. If you are giving the loafs away as a gift for a neighbor or coworker, it produces a prettier looking loaf.
7. Bake for 60 minutes. If the tops of the loaves start getting too dark for your liking, cover them very loosely with a piece of tin foil until the timer goes off.
8. Always rest quick breads, like banana bread, for 10 minutes before taking them out of the pan. The bread is too fragile when you take it out of the oven. By letting it sit for 10 minutes, you allow everything to cool down enough to keep your bread from breaking apart.
9. Take a butter knife or an offset spatula and drag it along the edge of the bread in between the pan and the bread. This will loosen the bread from the pan. The pan should loosen from the bread and easily drop out of the pan. I drop the bread into my hand then place it on a cooling rack.
If you lined your pan with parchment paper, still use a knife to loosen the bread from the pan at the corners. Then pick up the edge of the paper you left and place it on a cooling rack. Carefully peel the paper off the bread and enjoy!
Let me know on Instagram or Pinterest if you make this.
Post a picture and tag me @dinasdiner. I want to know how it turns out.
Delicious Banana Bread
4 Eggs
1 C. Butter
1 Cup Sugar
4 Cups Flour
2 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 Cup Buttermilk
2. Beat Bananas until liquid.
3. Combine the eggs and add to liquified bananas.
4. Add butter and sugar. Beat well.
5. Put flour, soda and salt in a separate bowl.
6. Drop in 1/2 cup of flour mixture and then add 2 Tbsp. of buttermilk.
7. Continue with step 6 until all the flour mixture has been mixed in.
8. It's best to finish with buttermilk.
9. Bake for 60 minutes. Place tin foil loosely over the top if the bread is browning too fast.
