One of the most baked recipes in my house is Banana Bread. It also happens to be one of the most requested recipes as well. My oldest son has always been a very picky eater and I resorted to try to get fruits and vegetables into him in sneaky ways. Things little cauliflower in the mashed potatoes, whole tomatoes, carrots and sweet potatoes in my spaghetti sauce and, of course, the ever popular zucchini bread (although I don’t call it zucchini bread!).
But his favorite has always been this Banana Bread. He has even asked for 2 whole loaves all to himself in place of a birthday cake. Yes, he ate every last bite of those two loaves!
This recipe originated in a church cookbook. You know, the ones where everyone sends in their favorite recipes and then the church sells them as a fundraiser. Well, there was this recipe for banana bread where the ingredients were in a crazy order (not wet together and dry together like most recipes) and her note at the bottom said that she makes this bread in 2 coffee cans. Once it’s cool, she removes it from the cans, rolls it in sugar, puts in back in the pan and then freezes it until needed.
Now THAT is what I call old school!
Although I never baked the loaves in a coffee can, I knew I had to try the recipe. It became an instant favorite.
But as usual with recipes that I get from books, magazines, etc. I made changes. Just a change here a change there.
First I realized that she just called for 5 bananas. Well, bananas are all different sizes and I would sometimes end up with a perfect loaf and sometimes there was just too much banana. The bread felt under done no matter how long I baked it due to too much banana in the batter
I also realized that she was calling for baking soda but there was no acidic ingredient to react with the bi-carb so why was it there? Since my loaves were always a little on the short side, I decided to add a little lemon juice instead of removing the bi-carb. Once I did that, my loaves rose more and felt less dense.
So, a little of this, a little of that, and this is how the recipe ended up looking in the cookbook….
I tried multiple changes until I came with a recipe that everyone loved. Now it is consistently moist but baked through, full of banana flavor and so yummy!
And here’s a little TIP: I needed to make some banana bread and get some in the freezer for a trip we are taking in about a week and a half. Since this recipe makes 2 loaves, we had one for breakfast and I froze one. But I didn’t have any overripe bananas!! No bother! If you only have nice, pretty yellow bananas but you are craving banana bread, just bake the bananas (whole, with the peel) in a 350° oven for about 25 to 30 minutes. When the peel is completely black, take them out and let them cool. The fruit will be perfect for banana bread!
So let’s get to it! This bread is so good you’ll want to always keep a loaf in your freezer so you can enjoy it anytime!
Watch a VIDEO of this recipe on youtube HERE!
Old Fashioned Banana Bread
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 min to 1 hour
Total time: About 1 and 10 minutes
Yield: (2) 9×5 loaves
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground flax seed, optional
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
- About 4 bananas ( about 2 cups)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup oil
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease and flour two 9×5 inch loaf pans.
- Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, flax seed and cinnamon. Stir together and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas until most clumps are gone. Add sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla and lemon juice. Mix together until incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold together until all of the flour is incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Pour half the batter into each of the loaf pans.
- Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean.
- Let loaves cool in the pans for about 10 minutes then remove from pans to cool on a wire rack until completely cool. Wrap in foil and store at room temperature for up to 4 days or place foil wrapped loaf in a freezer bag and freeze. This bread freezes wonderfully and can be frozen for up to 3 months.
What a lovely banana bread 😊