Saturday 16 February 2013

Moist and fluffy banana bread

I love banana bread. 

There are more than 10 different banana bread recipes that I have saved and bookmarked, biding their time to be baked and greedily wolfed down by me shared with friends and family. After much consideration, I have decided to grace my first ever blog post with this simple and oh so yummy banana bread recipe. 










I have made these twice so far, and I must say that it is a very forgiving recipe. A very essential element for a novice (note: clumsy) baker like me. One thing I need to stress is - Please use overripe bananas! I am sure fellow banana bread aficionados out there would agree with me on this critical point. Those sad looking, mushy and speckled skinned bananas will no doubt rise to the occasion and give you the best ever moist banana bread bursting with delicious banana-y flavour. It stays moist and fluffy even when I substituted 1 cup of flour for wholemeal flour. Also, overripe bananas are much sweeter, meaning that you can get away with reducing the amount of sugar in the recipe. 


I don't know about you, but knowing this makes me feel a little less guilty when I'm stuffing myself silly with these lovely baked morsels. Yes, I am 'one of those bakers' who tend to try and 'healthify' recipes. Hey, I love to be able to indulge and still fit into my skinny jeans! 





Don't you just love that brown bottom ?!



I am now fervently waiting for the bunch of bananas at the background to turn all speckled and black just so I can make these again. *rubs hands together in eager anticipation*




Moist and fluffy banana bread

Adapted from all recipes


Yields: 1 9x5 inch loaf / 12 standard muffins


Ingredients:

2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour (I substituted 1 cup with wholemeal flour)

3/4 cup (150 g) brown sugar (I used 1/2 cup = 100g)
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 (115 g) cup butter
2 1/3 cups (500 g) mashed overripe bananas 


Directions:



  1. Preheat oven to 175 C. Lightly grease or line a 9x5 loaf pan.
  2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.
  3. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan or muffin liners.
  4. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes for loaf and 18-20 minutes for muffins, until a toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean.