Banana bread

 

• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick or 115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup (80g) plain yogurt or sour cream (I use Greek yogurt)
• 2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 large ripe bananas)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• optional: 3/4 cup (100g) chopped pecans or walnuts

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Instructions

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan or coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
3. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the yogurt, mashed bananas, and vanilla extract on medium speed until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no flour pockets remain. Do not overmix. Fold in the nuts, if using.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 60-65 minutes. Loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil after 30 minutes to help prevent the top and sides from getting too brown. A toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf will come out clean when the bread is done. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack.
5. Cover and store banana bread at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Banana bread tastes best on day 2 after the flavors have settled together. See post above for freezing instructions.

Banana Bread

This originates from Kenya - yet is an American recipe, from the Wycliffe Bible Translation Society cookbook. Spiral bound, the book has been so well used that it has completely lost its cover. It's there, somewhere on the bookshelf. I think.

I can't remember the first time I made this. I suppose it was in Kenya, though I used the courgette cake recipe more frequently, somehow. Odd, when bananas are so ubiquitous in East Africaq. It was rare, though, that bananas survived long enough to become too soft for eating, as they do here in Europe. Here, the bananas we eat are large, solid, fleshy: brash contenders for the name from the Windward Islands (if they come under the Fairtrade label) or elsewhere in the Caribbean if labelled with the global giant, Fyffes...fee, fi, fo fum.  Kenyan bananas were usually finger-sized, sold at the bus terminals and stops in Kisii land in 'hands' of 20 or so, stacked together in flat baskets carried high on heads by small girls. Small, dry, delicious.

So my banana bread seems more European, to me, than Kenyan. This is not the original recipe. I've adapted it for ease and speed - my trademark in cooking.

Banana Bread
Mash 2 -3 bananas.
Beat in 1/3 cup oil, 1- 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar
Add 1 1/2 - 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate (baking) soda dissolved in 1/4 - 1/2 cup milk or water,
1 teaspoon cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg - or 1 teaspoon mixed spices. Even ginger.

Bake at 180/190 C (350/375) for 30 - 40 minutes.

It's a variable bready cakey thing. It all depends on the ripeness and softness of the bananas.