Banana Bread
An easy to bake Banana Bread-Cake recipe, which gives perfect results, using a fool-proof method, every time. The bananas you need to use should be over-ripe, this gives the banana bread its texture, weight and taste. Just turned yellow, or green-yellow bananas, should not be used, they are too firm, and the natural sugars which we want have not started to break down yet. This Banana bread-cake is also perfect for batch-baking (particularly if you can pick up some cheap over-ripe bananas from your fruit market) make enough to eat for breakfast, brunch or tea and then freeze the rest.
Banana Bread Recipe
Makes 1 Loaf – Serves 6 to 8. You can make your own buttermilk without buying it – to make 100ml of buttermilk use 85ml of full fat milk and mix in 15ml of clear white vinegar – leave it twenty minutes, give it another mix and use.
Recipe Ingredients:
- 5 over-ripe bananas (mashed)
- 300g plain flour
- 120g butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 100ml buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Recipe Method:
Peel the bananas, remove any obvious blackened areas (but don’t be too fussy) and mash them in a bowl with a fork. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar together until it has become light and fluffy. Add the eggs, mixing them in. And then add the mashed bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Mix this well. Fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and sea-salt. This makes a light and creamy cake batter – add a little extra milk if it is a little stiff.
Preheat the oven to 180C
Grease a large (20cm x 12.5cm) loaf tin with butter and line it with baking parchment. Spoon in the cake batter, smoothing it down into the corners and smoothing down the top. Place the Banana Bread in the oven and bake for 60 minutes to 80 minutes at 180C – until the cake is well-risen and golden-brown. Check after one hour and reduce the oven temperature slightly if the loaf is browning too quickly on the top, or cover the loaf loosely with aluminium foil. Check it is done by pushing a skewer in to see if it comes out clean and hot.
Remove from the Banana Bread-Cake from the oven, allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely before serving.