Ultimate Banana Bread
Is anything better than ultimate?
I’d love to take credit for this recipe, but America’s Test Kitchen deserves all the kudos for this one. I’m always on the lookout for the perfect banana bread recipe that imparts tons of flavour, isn’t too moist, freezes well and hits all the right notes. Look no further, this truly is the ultimate banana bread.
That being said, I did tweak the base recipe’s walnuts, and although I haven’t tried it yet, I think you could easily swap walnuts out and chocolate chips in and still have delicious results. My favourite way to serve is toasted in a cast iron pan just until the edges start to char.—CFG
Ingredients
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp finely ground sea salt
5 large very ripe (blackened is best) bananas; frozen works fine
½ unsalted butter, just melted
2 large eggs
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped coarse
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 9” loaf pan by spraying it with a vegetable spray. Set aside.
Place the bananas on microwave-safe large plate and then cover the dish with plastic wrap. Microwave the bananas until they’re fully softened and have released their liquid (5-8 min depending of the bananas are frozen). Let them cool on the plate for ~5min under the wrap.
Remove the food wrap from the plate and peel the bananas, allowing any excess liquid to drain onto the plate.
Transfer the peeled bananas and liquid to a fine-mesh strainer placed over a medium bowl and allow to drain for ~10-15min. Gently press down on the bananas occasionally to push the excess liquid through the strainer. You should have ½-¾ cup liquid in the bowl.
Transfer the drained liquid to a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for ~5min until the liquid is reduced to ~¼ cup.
Return the drained bananas and reduced liquid back to the mixing bowl. Mash the bananas and liquid until fairly smooth.
Next, whisk in ½ cup of lightly melted butter, 2 eggs, ¾ cup of packed light brown sugar and 1tsp of vanilla extract into the bowl and set aside.
(Optional) Roughly chop ¾ cup walnuts and toast in a pan on medium heat. Occasionally move the walnuts around so they don’t burn. (Keep an eye on them because once they brown they can quickly burn.) Remove from pan and set aside to cool.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together 1¾ cups of all-purpose flour, 1 tsp of baking soda, and ½ tsp of finely ground sea salt.
Pour the mashed bananas into the flour mixture and stir just until combined with some streaks of flour remaining.
(Optional) Gently fold in the toasted walnuts. (If you want to swap in ¾ cups of chocolate chips for walnuts, do it here.)
Transfer the batter to the greased loaf pan and bake on the middle rack ~55-75min or until a toothpick inserted into the loaf comes out clean.
Cool the bread in the pan for ~15min, then remove the loaf from the pan and continue to cool on a wire rack.
Serve warm, toasted, or slice and freeze to enjoy later!
