Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and even Tik Tok have been inundated with pictures of banana bread creations since the UK went into lockdown, but why is this the only recipe that people seem to be baking, I wondered.
Having never baked banana bread before, now was the perfect time to give it a shot as three yellow (slightly black) bananas lay within my fruit bowl. Seeing as I have just pulled my second banana bread out of the oven a few days later, it’s safe to say the recipe went down a treat with my boyfriend who demands I bake it every day.
Here is the recipe that I used and adapted to make the most scrummy banana bread, I hope you enjoy…
Ingredients:
- 1 block of unsalted butter chopped into cubes;
- 1 cup of granulated sugar;
- 2 eggs;
- ¼ cup of milk
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- A dash of cinnamon
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 cups of plain flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- ½ cup of chopped walnuts and raspberries (optional, but yummy)
Recipe:
Step 1: Make sure to heat your oven to 180 degrees and arrange the rack in the bottom third of the oven as you don’t want to be burning the top of your banana bread.
Step 2: Melt the butter on a low heat in a pan. Once the butter is melted, add the sugar and whisk until well combined and smooth.
Step 3: Once your butter and sugar are well combined, crack the eggs into the bowl and whisk until the mixture is smooth.
Step 4: Now it’s time to add the milk and vanilla extract, which once again you whisk together.
Step 5: You can finally get a little bit messy as this is where you mush and mash your bananas. Add the three ripe bananas into the batter and grab a fork. Push down on the bananas with your fork, mashing up the banana into large chunks or smaller chunks… it’s completely your preference. I prefer larger chunks of bananas in my batter so that you get a sweet surprise whilst indulging.
Step 6: Incorporate the flour, baking soda and salt into the batter using a spatula to gently stir all the ingredients together, making sure there is no more dry flour on show.
Step 7: If you choose to use walnuts and raspberries, this is the step where you would fold in these extra ingredients.
Step 8: Make sure to line your baking loaf tin with greaseproof paper or spray with a cooking spray so that the mixture doesn’t stick. Pour the mixture from the bowl into the tin and smooth the top of the batter.
Step 9: Place in the oven and bake for 50 to 65 minutes. I tend to usually bake this for 65 minutes as my oven isn’t the best. Make sure that the banana bread is golden brown on top, but the middle is cooked. To test if the inside is cooked through, grab a thing skewer stick and stick this down the middle. If batter is stuck to the stick then it isn’t ready, so make sure to put it back in the oven for another ten minutes and check, keep doing this until it’s cooked.
Step 10: Once you are confident it’s cooked, take the tin out the oven and let the banana bread sit for ten minutes before taking it out of the tin. After that, put on the kettle, make a cuppa and enjoy a delicious slice of the warm banana bread.
I hope you enjoy and make sure to send me any photos of your creations so I can feature them on this blog!
Images: Isabella Hambley
Isabella Sophie Style 