The Ultimate Banana Bread

It’s here. It’s finally here. The perfect banana bread recipe. The ultimate. My one and only.

I’ll stop here. I think you get my point and my somewhat overwhelming excitement… You know how some people just make the best baked goods and have a secret recipe that you spend years trying to recreate but ultimately never can? You know, like for chocolate chip cookies? Or banana bread? I know I’ve been looking for the best banana bread recipe for as long as I can remember (or ever since I came to the US and discovered this delectable treat). Three years later, I’m happy to announce that I finally found it! My perfect banana bread. It’s moist (only time I like this word is when it relates to cake), perfectly golden, gets a nice big crack on top and has just the right mount of under-doneness.

I stumbled upon this recipe by chance. I was actually at a friend’s birthday party where one of the guests brought this bread with her as a gift. It was love at first bite. I immediately asked her for the recipe and tried to make it a day or two later. Unfortunately, it didn’t come out quite right. Sure it was decent, but it was nothing like the bites of heaven I had enjoyed a few days prior. I was so dissapointed that I stored the recipe away and forgot about it.

Slightly over a week ago, I received my delivery of groceries and happily found an extra bunch of bananas. It was complementary and I felt like I had found the golden ticket. Seriously, it was like Christmas. Soon enough though, I realized that 2 whole bunches of bananas wouldn’t last. There’s no way I could go through them before they’d go bad. Sure enough, they turned black by the time I was halfway done. I only had one solution: go back to that banana bread. I gave it another shot and it turned out to be absolutely perfect. Nothing like the first time. It finally tasted like the one I had a year ago!

To this day I’m still not 100% sure why it turned out so differently the first time I gave it a go. My potential explanations are that I used greek yogurt instead of plain, that my bananas weren’t “pitch black” and that I baked it in smaller loaves instead of this 8″ one. I’m not sure the type of yogurt truly makes that big of a difference (though I’d go with plain just to be sure) but I think the pan size can definitely explain it. The cooking time wasn’t adapted for the other size and the bread ended up being slightly overdone. It also messed up the ratio of crust to crumb, which is on point here, because the rise was different. Overall I’m so glad I kept this recipe! This is now my go-to take on it. Though I’m still in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, I can scratch one of these essentials off of my list. Bon appétit!

Recipe barely adapted from Shauna Sever.

---

Total time: 1 hr

Ingredients: 

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 6 tbsp salted butter, melted
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk all of the dry ingredients together: flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
3. In another recipient, mash the bananas (note: I like to mash them irregularly and leave some small pieces to give the bread some more texture).
4. Add all of the wet ingredients to the mashed bananas: eggs, butter, and yogurt.
5. Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ones until just homogenous. Don’t overmix.
6. Pour the batter in a lightly greased 8″ loaf pan, and bake in the oven for 52-55 minutes.

TIP: This recipe provides an amazing base for a simple banana bread but you can also add nuts, chocolate chips or whatever else you fancy in the batter right before pouring it in the pan!

L’Ultime Cake à la Banane

Temp Total: 1 hr

Ingrédients: 

• 3 bananes très mures (ou noires)
• 2 tasses de farine
• 3/4 tasse de sucre en poudre
• 3/4 c.c de bicarbonate de soude
• 1/2 c.c de sel
• 1/4 tasse de yaourt nature
• 6 c.s de beurre fondu
• 2 œufs, battus

Étapes:

1. Préchauffez votre four à 176°C.
2. Dans un grand bol, mélangez les ingrédients secs: farine, sucre, bicarbonate de soude et sel.
3. Dans un autre récipient, écrasez les bananes (note: vous pouvez laisser quelques morceaux irréguliers pour donner une meilleure texture au cake).
4. Ajoutez-y alors les autres ingrédients humides: œuf, beurre et yaourt.
5. Incorporez délicatement ce mélange aux ingrédient secs, sans trop mixer.
6. Foncez un moule à cake de 20cm beurré avec la pâte, et enfournez pour 52-55 minutes.

LE PLUS: Cette recette est fantastique pour un cake à la banane tout simple, mais vous pouvez aussi l’utiliser comme base et y ajouter des noix, pépites de chocolat… etc dans la pâte avant d’enfourner!

Advertisement