Delicious Banana Bread Recipe

Did you know that in the UK, we throw away a shocking ‘1.4m edible bananas every day at a cost of £80m a year‘? They often get thrown away just because they are a bit blemished. In landfill they can give off methane which is a greenhouse gas. We don’t want that to happen. Especially when they can be used up in this delicious banana bread recipe!

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How ripe should bananas be for banana bread?

The riper the banana the better! As a banana ripens it starts to get blemishes and black spots. Then it gets a dalmatian pattern until eventually the skin turns entirely black. As long as it smells fine, there is no mould and the fruit isn’t rotting, it is safe to use in all these stages.

In fact, if the skin is black, you could mash it up and add it as an extra ingredient in this banana bread recipe. If you are going to use a banana skin though, you would need to clean it thoroughly to remove any pesticide or fertiliser residues (even organic foods can have pesticides and fertilisers used on them). It would also be a good idea to sieve it once mashed, before adding because I find banana peel can be a bit stringy.

Do I have to wait for the banana to turn black before I can use it in this recipe?

Absolutely not. The riper the banana, the sweeter and more banana flavoured the banana bread. But it will still taste nice as long as the banana is ripe.

Ingredients:  

  • 1 3/4 cup self raising flour
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup golden caster sugar
  • 1 cup mashed bananas

Method:  

  • Set the oven to 180°C
  • Grease a loaf tin
  • Mix together the olive oil spread and sugar in a bowl
  • Beat in the eggs
  • Beat in the mashed banana
  • Weigh the flour into a sieve over the mixture, sieve it in and stir until fully incorporated into the mixture
  • Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for around 45 minutes in a fan assisted oven. This time will vary a little depending on the efficiency of your oven.

Easy peasy! It doesn’t take long to mix together the ingredients and makes a great snack for afternoon tea. 

Can I substitute oil for butter in this recipe?

You can use vegetable oil, butter or margerine/ vegetable spread in this recipe. The quantity can remain the same, whichever one you use.

I prefer to use vegetable oil. That is because margerine comes in a plastic tub which isn’t recyclable where I live. Plus it is makes this recipe dairy free.

Why is my banana bread dry?

If you find your banana bread recipe has turned out a bit dry, it might have been cooked too long. Ovens vary in efficiency and some ovens will cook things quicker than others.

To help moisten your cake you can put it in a tin before it has entirely cooled down. Usually it will lead to condensation on the container which will help to moisten the cake. Make sure the container isn’t left damp for very long though.

Another option is to put a soaked humidifying stone in the container with the cooled banana bread. I have one specifically for baking that my mum gave me years ago. The only ones I can find now though are marketed to keep tobacco moist, but ignore that and use it to keep your baking moist!

How long should you leave the banana bread to cool?

As I just mentioned, if your banana bread is a little dry you can put it in a storage container before it has completely cooled down. However usually you would let it cool completely before putting in a storage tin.

I recommend putting a food net over it, while it is cooling and setting a timer to remind yourself to check on it in 20 minutes to half an hour. If it still isn’t cool, then I would set a timer for a further 10 minutes or so. The reason to set a timer, is so that it doesn’t get forgotten about and left out too long.

I hope you enjoyed this banana bread recipe post. Check out these other over ripe bananas ideas if you still have more bananas to use up/ for next time.

Comments

  1. This looks really good Zoe and as anything with bananas in is my husband's favourite I shall give it a try. Thanks for linking this up to Seasonal Celebration!
    Have a great weekend!
    Rebecca x

  2. I adore Banana bread, but the boys prefer Muffins. They even let the bananas go back for them!

  3. Zoe

    The seasonal celebration linky is great. So many interesting link ups! The banana bread is definitely worth a go next time you have some overripe bananas!

  4. Zoe

    I'm on the look out for muffin recipes at the moment, so would love to hear yours!

  5. Thanks for linking to our first Eat Make Grow Blog Hop! I love banana bread, but I don't like bananas. It's a sad plight because I never have old bananas that need to be rescued by mixing into banana bread. What is golden castor sugar and why is it better than regular white sugar?

    We are already on to Blog Hop #2. I hope you'll come and link to that one as well. Feel free to link to any older posts if you think they are timely and pertinent.

    – Foy
    http://foyupdate.blogspot.com/2012/08/eat-make-grow-thursday-blog-hop-2.html

Comments are closed.