Banana Bread is a classic quick bread, but there’s a trick to getting banana flavor into baked goods without weighing it down with excessive liquid from too many bananas.
The technique used below is inspired from America’s Test Kitchen, and can be applied in a variety of dishes that call for banana or banana flavor to achieve a natural banana syrup without artificial flavorings. Bon Appetit, and Get Cheffy!
- 5-6 Very Ripe/Overripe Bananas
- *See note
- 1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional)
*But how overripe are we talking here? The photos at top show the state your bananas should be in for this recipe. Bananas are a unique fruit in that they continue to turn their residual starches into sugars even after they’ve been picked. Younger and greener bananas simply won’t have the sweetness and moisture levels needed, so opt for the ripest bananas you can find in the store, and let them sit for a few days until they look like the above.
- Begin by adjusting your oven rack to the middle position and heat to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with vegetable spray. Whisk your flour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.
- Peel your overripe bananas and place them in a microwave safe bowl covered with plastic wrap. Cut 4-5 small steam vents in the plastic wrap before microwaving on high for about 5 minutes. When you take this bowl out of the microwave, treat it as you would something that’s come fresh out of the oven; the bowl will need to be handled with oven mitts, and you’ll need to place it on a towel if you set it down. Take a large mesh strainer and place it over a large stockpot. Carefully pour your microwaved banana mixture into the strainer, and allow the liquid to sieve through. Gently stir and press the banana mixture through the strainer until no more liquid comes out of the banana mush; you should be left with banana pulp in the sieve and banana liquid in your stock pot.
- Place the stockpot with banana liquid onto a burner to cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes reducing down to about 1/4 a cup (or ~4 tablespoons), stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool. If the bowl you’ve microwaved your bananas in has cooled off, dump your strained banana pulp into it, and whisk in your melted butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla extract into the banana pulp. Fold in all of your dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Add in your optional mini-chocolate chips or other additions before scraping into your prepared loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (55-75 minutes). Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing and allowing to fully cool on a wire rack for 3 hours. Slice and serve.
GET CHEFFY TIP!: Walnuts, and other chocolate chips, etc. are a great addition, as are additional thinly sliced banana pieces shingled along the edges of the bread. To achieve this effect, thinly slice (1) ripe banana into thin sheets on a bias and arrange them along the perimeter of the loaf. Sprinkle ~1 tablespoon granulated sugar over the shingled banana pieces before baking.
Get Cheffy: with James 