Skip to main content

Banana Bread! Yum!

I was going to make some other kind of bread on Wednesday, but it was pointed out that we had a number of bananas that were ready to go—more than we were going to eat. And we didn't have long to eat them, so could I please do something with them?

Ripe banana.

Four of these—perfect for banana bread.

So I looked for a recipe with plenty of bananas, and guess what? Leslie Bilderback came through again! Thanks Leslie! (Note: I think I've described this before? But not with pictures like this.)

Banana Bread

  • ¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup sour cream (I actually used closer to ½)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • (Optional; I don't usually bother) 1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C; Gas Mark 4). (Here Leslie gives instructions for prepping a 9" x 5" loaf pan with "pan spray" and parchment; I just give it a good wipe down with some margarine or butter.)

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. (I used the hand mixer, and it didn't get "creamy and smooth" until I went in there with the spoon and pasted all the little bits together.) Add bananas and egg and beat until creamy. (And if the bananas have a few dark spots inside, you're going to see those too. No harm done though.) Stir in sour cream and vanilla.

Sift together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. (I just poured each into our Pyrex quart measure and stirred it around with a fork.) Slowly stir into batter. Fold in walnuts if you're using them.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth the top.

The pan should now look like this...

and the spoon should be ready to lick!

Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 °F (160 °C; Gas Mark 3) and bake another 30 minutes, or until a toothpick, skewer, or similar small, sharp, CLEAN item inserted in the center comes out clean. (Leslie says, "Tent with foil if loaf browns too quickly," but ours barely browned at all. It was more a light gold color.)

Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes in the pan before removing and cooling on a rack.

It's a bit short.

But it looks Delicious!!

God speed, and remember: All sorrows are less with bread.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Consistency Of Coarse Meal

I decided to make biscuits this afternoon, and as I was following the recipe, I saw that I needed to mix flour, salt, and baking powder, then cut in shortening (butter is better than mar but marge is what we had). The recipe said to cut the shortening in "to the consistency of coarse meal." Now what the heck is that supposed to mean? I mean, I know what (for example) corn meal looks like; but does the casual baker? How are they supposed to know? It means this. Not that you'd go far wrong with these biscuits, anyway. I mean, it's the Pillsbury cookbook. The only problem I had is that, at some time in the past, I put a note in to myself to use 3 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of the recipe's 2. Well, I'm marking that back down. These are edible, but definitely taste of baking powder. Oh well, live and relearn, I guess. The finished product. Yum! Godspeed, and remember, All things are better with bread .
Post a Comment
Read more

More Random Thoughts

I don't usually make bread during the week (I could , but we'd rapidly run out of space to store the bread!). But last night I did, just plain white bread for sandwiches today. I have to watch myself carefully. I'm not taking the time I need to shape the bread; it doesn't look as nice and even as it should. But it's got a lovely crust, a bit sweetish, and should make a great sandwich. Herself (who has informed me that she would like to be referred to forthwith as Nancie) made a great sandwich on this for lunch. She is the Sandwich Queen :-) Buffalo chicken, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and a wee little bit of pepper. I can't wait for lunch! I was going to post something about the awful state of my bread ingredient cupboard, but this has cheered me up enough that I don't feel like griping about it :-) God speed, and remember: All sorrows are less with bread .
3 comments
Read more

We Need A Bigger Kitchen

Evidence: I was baking this afternoon while Nancie was trying to frost a cake. I wish I had a picture of the result; but here's where I wound up trying to mix and raise the bread: In case you're not sure, I'm doing this on the stove (next to the cookie sheet and loaf pans that I had to take out of the oven because we were baking the cake). What you see in the background is the microwave on the counter and the various things we have to have there in order to keep them off the counter. We manage, though. Somehow or other :-) So what I'm making right now is Tuscan White Hearth Bread from Everything Bread . This is unusual in that it has no salt. Or sugar; just water, flour, and yeast. It's the perfect kind of bread to use with spaghetti that has a lot of sauce on it. It might even be the excuse to make a little bit of extra sauce for the pasta! Tuscan White Hearth Bread 1¼ cups warm water 1¾ tsp. active dry yeast (1 package) ¼ cup whole whe...
Post a Comment
Read more