Moist Banana Bread Recipe

 

This moist banana bread recipe helps put overripe bananas, that would otherwise be destined for the garbage, to good use, making it a great recipe for anyone who likes to be frugal. The key to good quick breads is not overmixing the batter. Once the liquid ingredients are added to the dry, mix the batter by hand just until the flour is moistened, for no more than about ten seconds. Too much mixing can cause the final product to be dry, tough or misshapen. For a slightly more decadent banana bread recipe, try this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 large, very ripe bananas
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup butter or shortening

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Spread the walnuts out on a flat baking pan or sheet pan and roast them in the oven for 5-6 minutes. Midway through, toss them around on the pan so that the tops and bottoms brown evenly. When they're done, remove the pan from the oven and then remove the toasted nuts from the hot pan and set them aside to cool.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and cinnamon. IMPORTANT: Make sure the walnuts are thoroughly cooled before adding them to the dry ingredients, as the heat would activate the baking powder too early.
4. Unwrap the butter and heat it in the microwave, in a microwave-safe bowl, for about a minute, until it's thoroughly melted. Set it aside at room temperature to cool, but don't let it solidify again.
5. Peel the bananas. Using a potato masher, mash the bananas in a separate mixing bowl.
6. Add the vanilla extract to the mashed bananas.
7. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then add the beaten egg to the banana-vanilla mixture.
8. Thoroughly grease and flour a 9" × 5" × 3" baking pan (or use a nonstick baking pan or a flexible silicone pan).
9. Pour a tiny bit of the melted butter into the egg-banana-vanilla mixture and stir it in. Repeat 3-4 more times, adding a slightly larger amount of the liquid butter each time until it is all incorporated. IMPORTANT: Don't add hot melted butter to the egg-banana mixture as the heat from the butter would cook the egg, and that's not what you want to do!
10. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix no more than ten seconds. The batter will be visibly lumpy. That's OK! It's extremely important not to overmix the batter, or the resulting bread will be too hard.
11. Once the liquid and dry ingredients have been combined, gently pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake immediately. TIP: The dry and wet ingredients, respectively, can be mixed in advance, but as soon as the wet and dry ingredients have been combined with each other, the liquid will activate the baking powder and the batter must be baked right away.
12. Bake 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean and the edge of the bread starts to separate from the pan.
13. Once the pan is cool enough to touch, carefully invert the pan — the loaf should drop right out, so make sure you support it with your other hand. Let the loaf cool on a wire rack at room temperature.

Makes one 9" × 5" × 3" loaf. For a real treat, serve this banana bread drizzled with a delicious vanilla custard sauce called crème anglaise.

 

http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/bakingdesserts/r/bananabread.htm