I’m sharing with you how to make perfect soft and fluffy banana bread.
It’s one of my go too’s when I have a few bananas that are looking a little brown
sitting in my kitchen.
Enjoy it fresh or it’s perfect toasted with a little butter for breakfast in the morning.
Welcome to recipes by Carina where I share with you how to make classic and simply delicious
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To start in a medium sized bowl measure out the flour, we’ll need 2 cups or 250 grams.
You’ll notice I give the recipe amounts in cups, grams and ounces so no matter where
you live in the world this recipe should be easy enough to follow.
If you would like the full recipe for this banana bread it will be on my website as well
as the full measurements listed in the description box below.
Next for the dry ingredients we’ll need 1 teaspoon of baking soda and a generous pinch
of salt to round out the flavours.
We’re using baking soda in this recipe instead of baking powder because we’re adding a
bit of acid with the bananas and also brown sugar which will activate the baking soda
and give this banana bread the perfect light and fluffy texture.
Make sure you get this bit right and don’t mistake just using baking powder as you won’t
get the desired result.
Give the dry ingredients a quick mix together, just to make sure they’re well combined
and set it to the side while we work on the wet ingredients.
Let me know in the comments below what your favourite things to bake with bananas are.
I have the most delicious banana cake recipe with brown sugar buttercream but it does take
a little longer to make so most of the time my go to will be this banana bread.
In a smaller bowl we’re going to add our bananas.
You’ll need about three medium sized bananas or four small bananas.
There’s a bit of a debate about what bananas should look like if you’re using them in
baking.
My advice is if your starting to smell them as you walk into your kitchen they’re pretty
much perfect.
You don’t want them too far gone but you do want them over ripe as that way they are
so much sweeter and stronger in flavour which is perfect for your banana bread or banana
cake.
Remove the bananas from their skin and add them to the bowl.
Using a fork or potato masher, mash the bananas to your liking.
You can leave them a little chunky if you want pieces of banana in your bread or continue
until they are pretty smooth so you’re just getting the flavour and none of the texture.
I like it somewhere in the middle.
This will make a standard sized loaf in a 9x5 or 23x13 loaf pan.
This is an easy recipe to double if you have more bananas to use up or you want to make
a larger batch of baking.
The banana bread will last for a few days in an airtight container but like with all
baking its best eaten fresh the day you make it.
I’ll usually keep any brown bananas I have in the freezer meaning any time I feel like
baking I have some on hand, it’s a great way to make sure you’re not wasting them.
To the mashed banana crack in two medium sized good quality eggs.
You want to make sure these are at room temp so if you keep them in the fridge just remove
them about 30 minutes to an hour before you start baking.
The eggs are going to help to bind the ingredients together while the bread bakes as well as
provide some lift so you get that perfect light and airy texture.
We’re going to need half a cup of brown sugar to sweeten everything up.
The bananas are pretty sweet so I think half a cup is about the perfect measurement.
Brown sugar is best here, the caramel flavour just works so well with the banana but if
you don’t have any on hand white granulated sugar will work.
Add the sugar to the mixing bowl with the mashed bananas and eggs.
One of the reason I really love this recipe is it’s an easy throw together one.
I’ve separated out the dry and wet ingredients in different bowls but you could easily mix
together all the wet ingredients first and just add the flour, baking soda and salt on
top.
It only takes a few minutes to whip together and then straight into the oven so if you’re
not super keen on baking this is a great recipe to try.
Add a teaspoon of vanilla for flavour along with a third of a cup of oil.
I would say oil works the best in banana bread, it gives that soft texture as well as keep
the moisture levels up in the bread rather than that crumbly cakey texture that you get
more often with butter.
Of course you can substitute one for the other if you would prefer, just use a third of a
cup of melted butter instead.
For the oil you’ll want to a neutral oil, something with not a lot of the flavour so
try to stay away from something like olive oil.
Add this to the mixing bowl, another bonus with oil there’s no need for creaming so
it’s usually much faster.
Using the same fork that we mashed the bananas with, mix the wet ingredients together until
well combined.
This is also the point where you can add anything else you wold like.
Chocolate chips or chunks work so well in my option but there’s also walnuts for a
bit of texture.
I’m leaving mine as is for today.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and using a wooden spoon
fold the batter together until smooth.
Make sure not to over mix here, we don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour.
I will usually stop just as soon as I no longer get any dry flour patches in the batter and
there are no large lumps.
Pour the banana bread batter into a greased and lined loaf tin and bake in a 180C or 350F
oven for about 50 minutes or until it springs back when pressed.
The top of the banana bread shouldn’t get too dark, make sure to bake it in the middle
of your oven but you can cover it with a little foil in the last 20 minutes of baking if you
would like.
Leave it too cool in the loaf pan for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire
rack to cool completely.
Like I said earlier with all baking this banana bread is best on the day you bake it but it’s
also just as good toasted the next morning for breakfast.
I hope you give this recipe a try, don’t forget to share a picture with me on facebook
or instagram, my links are below.
Let me know if you have any question in the comments below and I will get back to you.
Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in my next video.