Ultimate Banana Bread

This is not my grandmother’s banana bread. It’s not even my mother’s or mine. But it’s really, really good. Packed with banana flavor, moist, but not goopy. And it’s beautiful!

I needed to make about 9 loaves of quick bread, so I made zucchini bread and pumpkin bread and wanted to try this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated All Time Best Recipes for banana bread. It uses more bananas than a typical recipe and takes a bit more time, but it’s worth it.

It’s important to use really ripe bananas – not lightly speckled ones. They need to be getting to the brown stage. You can use frozen, thawed bananas and skip the microwave step. For more information, check out the explanations on Cook’s Illustrated website. 

Ultimate Banana Bread

1 ¾ c. all purpose flour (I used half whole wheat and half white)

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

6 large very ripe bananas (2 ¼ pounds), peeled

8 tbs. (1/2 c.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

¾ c. packed light brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

½ c. walnuts, toasted and chopped coarse (optional)

2 tsp. granulated sugar

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8 ½ by 4 ½ - inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Dust some flour in the bottom of the pan, but not up the sides. 

Whisk flour, soda and salt together in a large bowl. 

 

Oh, I added some chocolate chips too. Just in case....

Place 5 bananas in a microwave-safe bowl (skip this if you use frozen bananas).

 

The bananas should actually be browner than these.

 

Microwave until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes.

 

 

Transfer bananas to a fine-mesh strainer over a medium bowl and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes (you should have ½ to ¾ cup liquid). 

Transfer liquid to a medium saucepan and cook over medium high heat until reduced to ¼ cup, about 5 minutes.

 

 

Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas, and mash with fork till mostly smooth. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla. 

Pour banana mixture into dry ingredients and stir until just combined, with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in walnuts, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Slice remaining 1 banana diagonally into ¼” thick slices (omit this if you used frozen bananas). Shingle banana slices on top of loaf in 2 rows, leaving a 1 ½” wide space down the middle for an even rise. Sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over the loaf. 

 

 

Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 55 minutes to 1 hour, 15 minutes (it depends if you used a 8 ½  x 4 ½” pan or a 9x5” pan – the larger pan will cook faster). Let loaf cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack and cool about an hour before serving if you can wait that long.

 

I couldn't - it's just yummy!

 

Isn't this pretty? The sugar adds a nice caramelized crunch on the top.