Moist Banana Bread

Submitted by Full Tummy

"The secret ingredient here is pudding! Either banana flavoured or vanilla pudding works great. It makes the banana bread moist. Another tip is use bananas that are so overripe that they are all completely brown. This will add better flavour to the loaf. This recipe is all about the techniques which will help keep the loaf moist. Covering the loaf with foil while baking is necessary, and will ensure a moist top that isn't crusty. I've added some cake flour to the mix because Canadian wheat has alot of gluten and I wanted to make the bread dense but will bake evenly. Feel free to experiment with adding different types of nuts or sweeteners to make this receipe your own. So far I've baked this loaf in flimsy aluminum pans and glass pans, and the disposable aluminum works better than the glass pan. I've also made mini acorn-shaped bread in Williams-Sonoma decorative pan as well as the W-S bundt pan and had impressive results with pretty designs. If anyone tries it in a silicone pan, I'd love to hear how it turns out. Enjoy!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 16
• Yields: 1 loaf
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 cup cake flour
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspooon cinnamon (I use Makara cinnamon from Cinnabon)
• 1⁄8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⁄2 cup instant pudding mix
• 1⁄2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 1⁄3 cups mashed bananas (5-6 medium bananas that are so overripe that they are completely brown on the outside, they taste be)
• 1⁄4 cup honey
• 3⁄4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (Nielson-Massey is a great brand)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or 1 cup chocolate chips
• 3 teaspoons milk

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. You might need a mini loaf pan as well because you'll have a bit of batter leftover. You can make a few muffins if you don't have a mini pan.
2. Prepare about half a package of instant pudding and let it cool. You can use stovetop pudding, but keep in mind that it'll need longer to cool. (everything needs to be room temperature so it dosen't cook the eggs that will be in the batter).
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; set aside.
4. In another big bowl, cream butter and sugar together with a spoon till the brown sugar is not lumpy.
5. Beat the eggs and add them to to the butter/sugar mixture.
6. Mash the bananas with a fork in a plate so that they are almost liquidy and look like baby food. Add bananas to other wet ingredients,honey, pudding and vanilla; mix well and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, just until incorporated; no need to overly blend. Fold in the nuts/chocolate chips with a spatula. Stir in 3 teaspoons of milk to help make the bread moist.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Knock the base of the pan on the countertop to bring any air bubbles to the surface. You will see little bubbles come to the top of the batter. This step is really important if you are pouring the batter into specially shaped cake molds, you don't want air bubbles to distort the design.
8. Cover the pan(s) with foil before putting into the oven, (otherwise the top will get too crusty and the middle of the bread will be raw). You should remove the foil after about 35-40 minutes of baking.
9. Bake for about 55 minutes-1 hour and 10 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Rotate the pan once or twice to ensure even browning.
10. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, so that the bread will loosen up from the sides of the pan,and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
11. You can wrap the cooled loaf in plastic wrap really well and put it in a freezer bag and it will keep well in the freezer for whenever you crave a slice.
12. If you store the loaf in the fridge, a few seconds in the microwave will make it taste extra-yummy.

Reviews

[lilypad722]

i halved the recipe and made 12 muffins and they were so moist and delicious. Thanks for the great recipe