Best Banana Bread

Chef Sunshine's Note:

Bananas are one of America's favorite fruits. They help to strengthen the stomach lining and are good for soothing indigestion. Most banana bread recipes are saturated with butter and sugar. This one uses a small amount of canola oil instead - which is much better for your heart - and honey, which of course means lots of flavor. Don't use regular whole-wheat flour. It is too heavy for this recipe. Look for whole-wheat pastry flour instead.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 1.0 loaf

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons canola oil, plus a little more for oiling the loaf pan
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup pecans

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a loaf pan.
2. Mash the bananas and mix with the honey, canola oil and vanilla extract.
3. Stir together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda and salt. Add the nuts.
4. Blend the two mixtures and spoon into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set.

Reviews

[Wish I Could Cook]

YUM! What a great recipe! I love that it has whole wheat, no sugar, no eggs, no dairy and just a little bit of healthy oil. I used white whole wheat flour and followed the rest of the recipe to a T. It made a very moist and tastly loaf. It rose great but then fell after I took it out of the oven. Next time I might bake it a few extra minutes and put some foil over it the last half of baking to prevent over browning. But really, it makes a great loaf as written. The only problem I have is that it's irresistable and the part where it says "serves 4-6" might turn into "serves 1"...

[El Bee]

An easy recipe, great flavor (love the honey/banana combination). I doubled the recipe since I had 6 bananas that needed used. I thought I had whole wheat pastry flour, but only had regular whole wheat--so I did 2 c. wheat & 1 cup white. I baked my loaves for 55 minutes, then decided not to risk browning the bottoms any more...they were just a touch undone in the middle.

[Patty JO]

10 stars!! I loved it and it is the best banana bread I have ever made. Simple to make. I have used pastry flour one time and the other time whole wheat flour. I always add 2 tsp of the vital wheat gluten and it turns out simply delicious. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe. PattyJo