Banana bread

Ingredients

• 400-475 g (approx. 4)¹ very ripe² bananas - mashed
• 50 ml honey or maple syrup
• 125 g butter - softened
• 50 g light brown sugar³
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 275-300 g all-purpose flour⁴
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• Ground cinnamon - to taste, I use about 3 teaspoons
• Ground nutmeg - to taste, I use about half a teaspoon
• A pinch (approx. 0.5 teaspoons) of fine sea salt
• Optional: roasted nuts - walnuts and pecans recommended

You’ll also need

• 13 by 26 cm loaf tin
• At least two mixing bowls
• Electric mixer, ideally (alternatively: a whisk and elbow grease)
• Masher, ideally (alternatively: use a fork)
• Wire rack for cooling, ideally

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease loaf tin.
2. Mash bananas to desired consistency. Add honey or maple syrup and mix.
3. In a separate bowl, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed with electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
4. Beat eggs in one at a time on low speed with electric mixer until just combined.
5. Beat in the banana mixture on low speed until just combined.
6. Sift flour, baking soda, bicarb soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. If using nuts, add them in too. Add to wet mix in three parts, stirring with a large spoon until just combined. It’s OK to still have small visible flecks of dry ingredients.
7. Spoon into pan and smooth the surface. If using nuts, sprinkle some on top.
8. Bake for one hour at 160°C or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
9. Leave in pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack, top-side up, to cool.

Footnotes

1. I’ve found that it doesn’t really matter how much banana you put in as this recipe is quite forgiving.

2. The ripeness of the bananas, on the other hand, is crucial. The riper (in other words, the more brown and smelling of fermentation) the better.

3. Substitute up to 35 g with dark brown sugar for a deeper caramelised flavour.

4. Substitute up to 150 g with whole-wheat flour, otherwise it could be quite dense (up to you, of course, but I prefer my banana breads fluffy).