Banana Bread

Last Sunday I used up the last of our brown bananas by making a classic banana bread.  I normally add in chocolate chips to my banana bread and bake it in 4 mini loaf pans.  This time I decided to make a large loaf and go pure with straight up banana bread.  No chocolate chips this time. 

The wonderful smells of the baking bread brought my husband downstairs to investigate.  He was so looking forward to having a piece.  Needless to say he was not pleased when I told him this bread was destined for the freezer and would be brought out later in the week for our friend Shannon who was coming to visit us for several days.  Sorry honey!

To store the bread I wrapped the cooled bread in tin foil and then placed it in a ziploc bag (removing as much air as possible) and then it went into the freezer.

I took the bread out the night Shannon arrived and let it sit on the counter overnight (still wrapped up) so it would be ready for our breakfast the next day.  I will say that the first day the banana bread was not as moist as I wanted it to be.  The secret is patience (which I'm not always good at).  The second and third days it was more and more moist.  Make sure you keep it tightly wrapped in foil and inside the ziploc bag at all times to maximize moisture.  The recipe comes from my mom and I added a twist by adding in 1/4 cup of sour cream.

The bread was the perfect thing to have on hand for breakfasts for us and our house guest and it pairs nicely with a cup of hot tea. 

If you have ripe bananas you need to use give this banana bread a try.  You might also like banana cupcakes, or banana chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe:

Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter

1 1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

2 eggs lightly beaten

1/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large bananas mashed (about 1 cup)

Optional add ins - 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips or chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour a large loaf pan or 4 mini loaf pans. 

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together.  Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add in eggs, sour cream, vanilla and mashed banana until fully combined.  With mixer on low add in dry ingredients in 3 batches until just combined.  Batter will be thick.  Pour it into your prepared pan(s) and bake for 50 - 60 minutes for a large loaf pan until a toothpick comes out clean.