Banana Bread

Like we all do, from time to time, I had a couple of bananas that were turning brown-ish, and I have a house full of company in town right now, so I made my FAVORITE Buttermilk Banana Bread recipe. This is another one I have worked on for YEARS, taking tips from various cookbooks with trial and error results.

You can absolutely RELY on this recipe, but be aware it makes a healthy amount of batter. If you don’t have a large loaf pan (bigger than 9 by 5 inches) then you can easily divide this batter between 2 loaf pans. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 medium overripe bananas, mashed with a fork (about 1 cup)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup canola oil (or your preferred cooking oil)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional: add 1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans to the batter

Optional: sprinkle top of loaf with mini chocolate chips (and nuts, if nuts were desired) to make a crust on top

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare baking pan by spraying a 9 by 5 inch (no smaller) loaf pan with cooking spray, or else butter and add a sheet of buttered parchment paper, and set aside. Use 2 loaf pans if your pan is any smaller than 9×5 or else it will spill over in the oven.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed banana and the eggs. Add the buttermilk, oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix well.
4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix.  Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan(s).
5. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. When a toothpick is inserted into the center of the bread, it should come out with moist crumbs but with no raw batter on it.
6. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and place on a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. Store covered in the refrigerator*.

Notes

*It may not be common to store banana bread in the refrigerator.  But, this bread gets EVEN BETTER after it’s been covered in the refrigerator for a few hours.  If you’re making this for breakfast, I recommend making it the night before.

This loaf will rise, so make sure to have a large enough loaf pan – which should not be filled more than 2/3 full before baking or else it will overflow.

To ensure the loaf will release from the pan, I like to butter, then add parchment paper and butter again. Dust lightly with flour before adding batter.

Optional: add 1/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips to the top of the batter before baking (or also chopped nuts, if nuts were desired) to form a crust on top.  The chocolate chip topping makes the bread more like a dessert.