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Banana Bread

This moist and delicious Banana Bread is super easy to make. It’s packed with caramelized bananas’ flavor, sweet brown sugar and a hint of cinnamon. What’s not to love!?

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BANANA BREAD

This quick bread recipe makes a 9 4 inch loaf. To make this recipe you can use overripe bananas with brown spots and ripe bananas, too. I use caramelized banana puree to make this banana bread. And so first I prepared caramelized bananas.

BANANA BREAD INGREDIENTS

  • Ripe or Overripe Bananas
  • Flour
  • Baking Powder
  • Baking Soda
  • Salt
  • Cinnamon (optional)
  • Brown Sugar
  • Butter
  • Eggs
  • Vanilla Extracts
  • Milk
  • Lemon Juice

CARAMELIZED BANANAS

Peel the bananas and cut them up. Heat butter in a skillet. Add brown sugar and cut up bananas. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, till caramelized and thickened. About 10-12 minutes. Remove skillet from the heat and scrape of banana mixture into a medium mixing bowl.

WHY DO YOU CARAMELIZE BANANAS?

I just love the flavor of caramelized bananas. However if you are not a fan you can easily make this recipe without caramelized bananas. If that’s the case be sure to use overripe bananas and mush them with a fork before adding rest of the wet ingredients. If you are adding butter to room temperature banana mush be sure to melt the butter first.

QUICK BREAD BATTER

Mash hot caramelized bananas with a fork. Add butter and stir until butter is melted. Let cool to room temperature. Next, stir in milk. In a small bowl whisk together eggs and vanilla extract. Add egg mixture into the bananas. Stir until well combined. Then blend in brown sugar and lemon juice.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LEMON JUICE?

Lemon juice, along with milk neutralizes baking soda and the bitter taste it can leave behind in the baked goods.

Sift or whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon(optional).

In 2 additions add flour mixture to wet banana mixture. Stir just until all dry ingredients are moistened. Don’t over mix the banana batter.

BAKE

Prepare a loaf pan. Spray the pan with a non stick spray and line it with w a piece of parchment. Leave little bit of parchment to overhang on each side.

Bake banana bread in the preheated oven at 360F for 40 minutes. Then rotate the pan and loosely cover loaf with an aluminum foil dome. Continue baking for another 30 minutes. Or till a wooden skewer/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the baked bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. After, lift it up from the pan. Use parchment to lift it up from the pan and transfer it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

QUICK BREAD TIPS

  • Don’t over mix the batter. Overmixing causes gluten to develop and results in a tough crumb of baked bread. It’s okay to have few few flour lumps in the batter before baking.
  • Combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Then combine the two.
  • Adjust your oven racks so the baking pan sits on the middle rack, in the center of the oven.
  • Spray or grease a loaf pan. Line your loaf pan with a small strip of parchment, leave some parchment to overhang on each side. I use the parchment to lift the hot bread from the loaf pan after it’s baked.
  • Bake the bread as soon as you spoon it into the baking pan. Don’t let it sit on a counter. It’s best to get it into the oven right after you fill the pans or the bread may not rise properly.
  • Use a foil dome to prevent over browning.
  • Rotate baking pan half way through the baking. I rotate the pan when I’m adding a foil dome.
  • Set the timer with 5-10 minutes less than the full baking time. This allows you to check the bread, just in case it’s baked before the suggested baking time. Each oven bakes differently. If it’s not done yet, continue baking for additional 5-10 minutes. Until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Let the bread cool in the baking pan for 10 minutes then transfer it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
  • Use a serrated knife to slice the bread.
  • Store quick bread wrapped in a plastic wrap of a foil. It keeps for up to a week if stored in the fridge.
  • Freeze it for up to 3 months. I like to freeze it sliced so I can take out one slice at a time. Or freeze the whole loaf, then let it defrost on the counter.

TO MAKE BANANA BREAD YOU NEED

MORE BANANA RECIPES :

Banana Bread

Delicious banana bread with caramelized bananas
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword banana bread, easy banana bread
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 10
Author Hani Bacova

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon optional
  • 7 tbsp unsalted butter
  • ¾ to 1 cup brown sugar packed
  • 3 tbsp milk / room temperature
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs

Caramelized Bananas

  • 4 large bananas, overripe or ripe are fine ( 1 and 1/2 cup mashed bananas)
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar

Instructions

Prepare Loaf Pan and Preheat the Oven

  • Preheat oven to 360F. Spray loaf pan with non stick spray. I like to line the pan with a small piece of parchment paper, leaving about ½ to 1 inch overhang on each side of the loaf pan.

Caramelized Bananas

  • Cut up ripe bananas into rounds. Melt butter (1tbsp) in a skillet, stir in brown sugar (1tbsp). Stir in cut up bananas. Cook on low heat, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Bananas will get soft and mushy. Mixture will be thick. Remove from the heat, pour contents into a bowl and mash bananas with the fork. (Measure 1 1/2 cup mashed bananas. If you have little less or little more it's fine, around 1 and 1/2 cup is what you need.)

Banana Bread

  • Whisk together flour (2cups), salt (1/4tsp), cinnamon (1/4tsp), baking powder (1 and 1/2tsp), baking soda ( 1/2tsp), set aside.
  • Into the warm banana mixture one by one stir in butter (7tbsp). Butter will melt as you stir it into warm mashed bananas. Let it cool to lukewarm while you gather rest of the ingredients.
  • Then stir in milk (3tbsp), then add brown sugar (1cup), in a small bowl whisk together eggs (2), vanilla extract (1tsp) and add it to the banana mixture and stir well. Lastly stir in lemon juice (1tbsp). Stir well after each addition. Why are you adding lemon juice? Lemon juice neutralizes baking soda on its bitter taste in the baked goods.
  • In 2 additions add flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Stir till just combined.

Bake

  • Pour banana batter into a prepared loaf pan.
  • Bake in the preheated oven at 360F for 40 minutes. Then rotate the pan and loosely cover loaf pan with a foil dome. Continue baking for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Then lift the banana bread from the pan and let cool completely.

Notes

DO I HAVE TO CARAMELIZE BANANAS?
If you don’t have time for this extra step use overripe bananas without caramelizing them first. You’ll need to melt the butter and add it melted to the mushed bananas. Rest of the recipe is the same.
I DON’T LIKE CINNAMON, CAN I SKIP IT?
Yes. 
I DON’T HAVE BROWN SUGAR CAN I USE REGULAR GRANULATED SUGAR INSTEAD?
Yes, it’s fine to use granulated sugar.
QUICK BREAD TIPS
  • Don’t over mix the batter. Overmixing causes gluten to develop and results in a tough crumb of baked bread. It’s okay to have few few flour lumps in the batter before baking.
  • Combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Then combine the two.
  • Adjust your oven racks so the baking pan sits on the middle rack, in the center of the oven.
  • Spray or grease a loaf pan. Line your loaf pan with a small strip of parchment, leave some parchment to overhang on each side. I use the parchment to lift the hot bread from the loaf pan after it’s baked.
  • Bake the bread as soon as you spoon it into the baking pan. Don’t let it sit on a counter. It’s best to get it into the oven right after you fill the pans or the bread may not rise properly.
  • Use a foil dome to prevent over browning.
  • Rotate baking pan half way through the baking. I rotate the pan when I’m adding a foil dome.
  • Set the timer with 5-10 minutes less than the full baking time. This allows you to check the bread, just in case it’s baked before the suggested baking time. Each oven bakes differently. If it’s not done yet, continue baking for additional 5-10 minutes. Until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Let the bread cool in the baking pan for 10 minutes then transfer it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
  • Use a serrated knife to slice the bread.
  • Store quick bread wrapped in a plastic wrap of a foil. It keeps for up to a week if stored in the fridge.
  • Freeze it for up to 3 months. I like to freeze it sliced so I can take out one slice at a time. Or freeze the whole loaf, then let it defrost on the counter.

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