Classic banana bread
If there are three bananas going brown in your fruit bowl, this is what they want to become. It was the first recipe I wrote down for this blog and I still bake it most weeks, usually on Sunday evening so there's something for breakfast.
The method is one bowl and a fork. Melted butter keeps the crumb tender, a little brown sugar gives that caramel edge, and the bananas do most of the sweetening — so the riper they are, the better.
A few things that matter
- Really ripe bananas. Heavily freckled or fully brown — see the ripeness guide. Yellow ones make a bland, dense loaf.
- Don’t overmix once the flour goes in. Fold until you can’t see dry flour and stop.
- Let it cool. It slices much more cleanly after an hour on the rack, and the flavour settles.
Classic banana bread
- Prep
- 15 min
- Bake
- 1 h
- Total
- 1 h 15 min
Makes
slices
Scaling a loaf? Use a bigger tin (or two) and start checking 10 minutes early.
Ingredients
Method
Notes
- Keeps 3 days well wrapped at room temperature, or freeze in slices for up to 2 months.
- Swap the walnuts for 75 g chopped dark chocolate if you’re baking for kids.
- Brown-butter version: cook the butter until it smells nutty and has brown flecks before you add it.