Banana Bread

So we had a couple bananas that were turning brown this past week so I decided to try my hand at making some banana bread. I had never made any type of bread, yeast or otherwise so I was, truthfully a bit nervous. In the end it came out beautifully and I was pretty happy with it. Next time I would just make sure that all of the bananas used are completely brown and not yellow at all to ensure maximum banana goodness.

Here's the money shot.

   

Quick Banana Bread From Scratch

1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour. (I use unbleached.)

2 1/4 tsp double acting baking powder

1/2 tsp salt (may be omitted for low sodium diets)

1/2 tsp good vanilla (not the weird fake stuff)

1/3 cup butter (5.5 tbsp)

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 tbsp orange zest (or lemon zest)

1 or 2 eggs. (I had jumbo eggs, so I used one. If you have small eggs, use two.)

1-3 ripe bananas

spices to taste (I used (approximately) 1/8 tsp cardamom, 1/8 tsp ground clove, and about 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Ginger also works well in this recipe if you like ginger. 

step 1Bring on the mixer!

1.) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (177 C)
2.) Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, and zest.
3.) Beat in eggs and banana until mixture is creamy, but not so long that it starts to separate.

step 2Add dry ingredients

Add flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Beat the batter until smooth and silky looking. (Again, time will vary depending on your mixer. In mine it takes just a couple of minutes.)
At this point, if you want to add nuts or other fruit, fold in up to 1/2 cup broken nutmeats or dried fruit.

step 3Pour into greased pan and bake

I grease my pan by rubbing the wax paper that held the butter all over the pan, but any greasing method works.You don't need to flour the pan like you do for traditional breads.You can if you want, it won't hurt anything, but quick breads don't gain the same benefit as yeast breads do.
Pop the pan in your preheated oven, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. When the top is golden and a knife will slide in and out cleanly, it's done.