Banana bread

Published on 110 min dessert , prep-ahead

This is a recipe that Niamh recommended to me. And as with most dessert recipes, she was spot on. Definitely one of the best banana breads I have eaten. It has a very strong banana taste, is moist in the inside, but crispy on the outside.

Ingredients

  • 115 g butter, cut into chunks
  • 160 g brown sugar
  • 5 medium-large mashed bananas
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 260 g flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda (Natron)
  • >100 sourdough starter (or 1 tsp baking powder)
  • >100 g chopped walnuts optional
  • >1 packet vanilla sugar optional

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 150 °C. Line a 20 cm loaf tin.
  2. Melt butter in a large pan. Whisk in brown sugar until smooth, then stir in 3 mashed bananas. Whisk in eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda (Natron), and sourdough starter (or baking powder). Whisk until the ingredients are fully dispersed in the batter.
  3. Add flour, add the chopped walnuts and stir until combined. Add the rest of the bananas (sliced). Scrape batter into prepared loaf tin.
  4. Bake banana bread for 75 minutes, or more. Test with a knife — the top third is often slowest to cook. The bread will get very dark but will not taste burnt.
  5. Let cool in pan.