Banana Bread

Sitting around the home and not sure what to bake or make? Last week I was doing the same. I’ve been growing lady finger bananas in my backyard and due to a high yield, I had to think of ways of using them. Bingo! Banana bread. There are many recipes out there, but do you find it difficult to make a loaf of perfect banana bread? Read on my friends for my tips and moist banana bread recipe. Simple right! Go and get the ingredients and make it right in your own kitchen.

Hero Ingredient: Banana

There are hundreds of different types of banana. The bananas I generally see at shops are either Cavendish or Ladyfinger bananas. So what is the actual best banana to use for this moist banana bread recipe? Simple. It doesn’t matter what type as long as they are well-ripened bananas. Because they are naturally sweet, easy to mash and cheap. You can easily tell which to use by the look of the bananas. They have brown spots all over. My bananas were free from my backyard.

Flour

Not all flours are the same. I used a mix of two different flours. The one on the right in the photograph below contain 8% protein which is similar to Cake flour. The one on the left contains 12% protein which is often used to make bread. Blend them together which makes flour (9.8% protein) similar to all-purpose flour (about 10%) which is commonly used in the USA.

It is important to choose the right flour to make your banana bread. This is because the amount of protein in the flour has an effect on the texture of baked goods. More protein in flour generates more gluten. This banana bread recipe raises the bread with the power of gluten and baking powder.

Butter and Eggs

Before you start to follow the banana bread recipe, it is important to leave the butter and eggs at room temperature. So leave them out of the fridge for 30-60 minutes before you start to make the bread. Also, the butter used in this easy banana bread recipe is unsalted. Because the salt contained in the butter will increase gluten activity thus it influences the texture. We want to avoid it.

How to Mash Banana?

Now you have chosen well to over ripened banana. Right? Good. So the mashing of the bananas manually is not hard work. You peel the banana and break them into small pieces and mash them with the back of a fork. If you don’t need to release any built-up stress, you can always just use a handheld stick blender or a food processor.

Tips to Make a Perfect Banana Bread

Tip 1: Use Ripe Bananas

They are cheap and you will find them in the quick sale section of the fruit shop. If you don’t have ripe bananas but still want to make it, use a stick blender to mash the bananas. The finished product probably won’t be as sweet and flavorful though.

Tip 2: Choose the Right Flour

All-purpose flour is good to use. But if you don’t have those, check the flour package’s back to see the protein percentage. Pick a flour with a protein percentage of around 10%.

Tip 3: Measure the Ingredients Precisely

This is what my high school baking club teacher said to us a thousand times! I usually use my kitchen scale but if you don’t have one, all the measurements in the recipe card are “level” cups. So spoon the flour and sugar into the cups and use the back of a knife to level the surface.

Variations

You can certainly add any nuts like walnuts in the batter or top with sliced almonds. Also, you can add cocoa in the flour or chocolate chips to make choc chip banana bread. Moreover, you can spread lemon cream cheese frosting on the top to make it a fancy dessert.

How to, and How Long does it Store?

Freshly baked moist banana bread is delicious, though one-day-old banana bread is better and more moist. In order to keep the moisture, when the freshly baked bread has briefly cooled down on a cooling wire rack, wrap it with cling wrap and leave it at room temperature overnight.

I usually have it for breakfast or for morning tea. If there are any leftovers, it lasts for a few days in the fridge. To make them last even longer, slice them and wrap them individually with cling wrap and place them in a ziplock bag. It will store for about a month in a freezer.

Other Bread Recipes

• Shokupan Japanese Milk Bread
• Kabocha Pumpkin Bread
• Melon Pan Bread
• An Pan

Stay Connected

If you made and liked my moist banana bread recipe, please leave a comment below on how it turned out and please rate the recipe.

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Moist Banana Bread バナナブレッド

5 from 14 votes

Easy and moist banana bread recipe with ingredients that you can easily find or already have.

Video

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Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 slices

Equipment

• stand mixer
• stick blender (optional)
• Bread form (4×7.5×3.5 inch /10×19.5x9cm)

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 1/8cup/120g Cake flour *1 *3
• ▢ 3/4 cup/100g Bread flour *2 *3
• ▢ 2 tsp baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• ▢ 1 1/4stick/140g unsalted butter *4
• ▢ 3/4 cup/140g caster sugar
• ▢ 2 large eggs *5
• ▢ 1 cup mashed ripe bananas *6
• ▢ 1 small banana sliced (for decoration) *7

Instructions

• Take the butter and eggs out of the fridge to leave in room temperature. *8
• Start to preheat the oven 356°F(180°C).
• Sift cake and bread flour, baking powder and cinnamon powder all together and set aside.
• Line the bread form with a baking sheet.
• Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl and beat them.
• Peel and mash the bananas. Measure one cup and set aside. *9
• Place the softened butter in the stand mixer bowl and beat with high speed till the color of the butter becomes a pale whitish yellow.
• Add the sugar and beat again with high speed till the butter become fluffy.
• Reduce the stand mixer speed to low and add beaten egg a little bit amount at a time. Once the egg is mixed in, add more eggs and repeat the process until all eggs are combined.
• Add the mashed banana and combine with low speed.
• Removed the mixing bowl from the stand mixer and sift the flours into the bowl.
• Fold the flour into the batter using a wooden spatula. Be careful not to overmix. *10
• Transfer the bread mixture into the baking sheet lined bread form.
• Flatten the surface of the bread mixture and decorate with sliced banana. *7
• Bake in 1/3 bottom of the oven for 60 minutes.
• Take them out and insert a skewer to test. If the skewer came out clean, the banana bread is baked.
• Turn the oven heat off, remove the bread from the bread form and cool on a wire cooling rack.
• You can slice and serve freshly with butter or whipped cream. *11

Notes

*1 Cake flour contains about 7-8% protein.

*2 Bread flour contains about 12% or more protein.  

*3 This mix of flours can be substituted with All-purpose flour, because combined flour’s percentage is 9.8% which is equivalent to All purpose flour protein amount (10%).

*4 Use unsalted butter, because the amount of salt in the butter affects gluten activity in flour when they are mixed. 

*5 Large size eggs weigh about 50g each.

*6 yM backyard bananas were small. So needed 6 small lady finger bananas. Banana size varies so measure mashed banana amount with cups, not by how many bananas. 

*7 This banana is optional. Only if you want to decorate the top of the bread with sliced banana. 

*8 Need to do this about 30 minutes before start to make the bread. 

*9 If you don’t have well ripen bananas, you can use a stick blender to mash. Any leftovers of mashed banana can be frozen and used for your next smoothies. 

*10 We don’t want to create too much gluten here. 

*11 In my humble opinion, day old banana bread  is better and more moist. So I usually wrap it with a cling wrap when the bread has cooled down on the cooling rack. Leave it wrapped on the kitchen bench overnight and have it for breakfast. 

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Nutrition

Calories: 317kcal · Carbohydrates: 45g · Protein: 5g · Fat: 14g · Saturated Fat: 8g · Cholesterol: 73mg · Sodium: 19mg · Potassium: 244mg · Fiber: 1g · Sugar: 21g · Vitamin A: 452IU · Vitamin C: 2mg · Calcium: 59mg · Iron: 1mg

Author: Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles

Course: Bread, Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

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