"Beat This" Banana Bread

sidMILB's Note:

From Ann Hodgman's "Beat This." I'm not a baker (didn't use cake flour) and even I can't mess this up. I halved this recipe and used two mini loaf pans. We ate one out of the oven and one after it had been frozen and defrosted. Fantastic! The citrus sharpens it nicely, and it's so moist you do not need butter! (But it's good with the butter, too.) This is the recipe pre-halving

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 55 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 2 loaves

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 medium very ripe bananas
• 4 large eggs, well beaten
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons grated orange rind
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter two 9x5" loaf pans.
3. Cream the sugar and the butter until light and whipped (until creamy).
4. Add the bananas, eggs, lemon juice, orange rind.
5. Beat until blended uniformly.
6. Be patient, and beat until the banana lumps are gone.
7. Sift the dry ingredients together.
8. Fold lightly and thoroughly into the banana mixture.
9. Pour the batter into prepared loaf pans.
10. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the loaves are firm in the middle and the edges begin to pull away from the pans.
11. Cool the loaves on racks for 30 minutes before removing from the pans.
12. Freezes well.

Reviews

[Roosie]

Ohhhhhh, the flavor of this is superb. BF picked this out and I must say I was slightly hesitant about the citrus/banana combo, but now I must say, I don't know why! They balance wonderfully. The orange is wonderful and subtle and the lemon added just a teensy bit of tang, both of which go wonderfully with the banana. I, too, did not use cake flour. I used whole wheat pastry flour, which worked great and omited the salt. I halved the recipe and baked in a 9x5 pan. REALLY REALLY moist and just scrumptious. My one concern, however, is that I felt it was a smidge too buttery, even to the point of being a little greasy. I might suggest reducing the butter, maybe to 1/3 cup to remedy this? I'm going to give this the full 5 stars because it is so delicious and I don't think the very-buttery-ness of this really detracts, just I prefer my banana bread a little more bread-like (I guess, drier? Less oily?) The flavor though... oh! Phenomenal! This is the kind of stuff that all you can do is moan with delight when you take your first bite! Thank you for posting!!

[Helio]

a very tasty bread, I would only reduce the sugar next time as I found it too sweet.

[MrsKette]

Not great, just average.