URGENT: Your favorite / go-to banana bread (or cake or muffin) recipe please!

This older discussion will help!

I have tried the banana bread in the link below, recipe by Mrs @Harters. Delicious.

My feedback on the recipe is a few posts down.
Hope this can help.

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The Flour Bakery banana bread is much beloved. I have used yogurt, and even buttermilk, in place of the sour cream. I usually omit the vanilla.

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This:

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Maybe too late now, but the crazy ATK method of cooking the bananas in the microwave is a revelation, creates very banana centric banana bread. Can be applied to whatever recipe you do use.
Apparently this blog didn’t have any concerns about reposting their recipe!

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Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 Cups Sugar
2/3 Cup Oil
4 Eggs
2 t Baking Soda
2 t Cinnamon
3 Cups Flour
4-5 mashed bananas

Directions;
Pre-heat oven to 350o, Prep 2 large or 6 small loaf pans.

Beat oil & sugar together; add eggs, baking soda & cinnamon. Add mashed bananas & beat to incorporate. Add flour.

Bake @ 350O for about 35 – 40 mins. Test with toothpick for doneness.

You can add a few tablespoons of butter to the recipe for flavor but don’t substitute all of the oil or the bread will be very dry.

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Thank you all! My day took an unexpected turn just after I posted this…

Our family Tday chef took slightly ill… so… I spent the day making most of the sides so that she can focus on just the turkey tomorrow.

SO.

I found a silly easy recipe on Epicurious that was rated 4 stars by 481 people and required one bowl and no fuss… at 10pm, that’s the way I went.

So far so good. I made a batch into muffins (moist and delicious according to non-banana-bread person that was not me), and the other is baking as a loaf.

This will definitely be a repeat - it really was ridiculously easy for a very good outcome.

I’ll try the much-loved Flour version (which is the other 4-star recipe - with 543 reviews - on Epi :joy:) another time.

image

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https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/banana-bread.html

We have really enjoyed this version the last few years. Once the batter is in the loaf pan I top it with sliced bananas and a bit of wheat germ then bake.

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Great you made it!

The loaf you have made looked better than the muffin. What I like about banana bread is also the crust!

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Did anybody ever add alcohol in banana bread? It seems rum would work with banana.

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Rum brushed on the loaf straight out of the oven sounds flavorful.

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Nice!!
But…where are the walnuts??? Isn’t it like a law that banana bread have walnuts…? I mean, pecans will do in a pinch i guess…

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I asked the recipient: nuts, chips, both, neither - CHIPS was the answer.

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The Flour recipe is designed for walnuts in my opinion. I don’t like it without walnuts. For plain, I use a different recipe.

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Ahhhh, then I understand. But they’re still wrong ;))

The Flour recipe uses canola oil and 2 table spoon of cream. Higher sugar ratio than other recipes. I think I prefer butter than oil recipe, but I am still curious. Maybe one day, I will bake 2 loaves to compare.

I look at the bakeoff link, I think I belong to the crust lover and leaning on the preference for more moist texture.

White or brown sugar, as for banana bread, brown sugar is a winner for me.

That’s a wonderful idea, now you reminded me that I have a tube of cognac with a spray for this purpose!

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I don’t like buts in my cakes either… don’t bring any walnuts near my brownies!

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I also prefer butter. This Flour bakery oil based recipe is different, though. There’s no question it’s a crowd pleaser. Still, for an everyday bread, I prefer the original Sunset magazine version. The Easy Banana Bread on Chowhound.com is almost the exact same as the Sunset version.

Butter-based recipes require perfection, though. To get a bread that’s not dry, you have to be consistent with your ingredients and oven temperature. In a new environment, it might take 2 or 3 tries to get it right. Oil-based quickbreads are forgiving and I suspect that’s why they are more popular. I’m not a fan of the “moist” oil texture, but I understand the allure.

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*nuts :rofl:

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I’m not enthusiastic about buts in my baked goods… :joy:
And all brownies must have walnuts. Non-negotiable.

As for muffins, since I am particular about pumpkin spice overload, I posted my sisters monster pumpkin muffins during Halloween discussions. She uses a 6 capacity muffin tin. These are moist, spiced well and have a nice domed rise. Often mistaken for bakery bought because they look so nice out of the tin…but its the flavor and texture that really stands out. I haven’t baked them myself and my sib never uses a smaller muffin tin. They taste great. Yes, they are on the sweeter side.

pumpkin muffins-origin unknown

1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan.
Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, mace, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.
In another bowl beat together the eggs, oil, pumpkin puree and water. Add to the flour mixture and beat until the batter is combined. Divide batter into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake in center of preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

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