Ultimate Banana Bread

"Most banana breads are either lacking in flavor or hopelessly dense. This version cooks out some of the water to help reduce the density. The bananas should be VERY ripe, heavily speckled with brown and black. You may use thawed, frozen bananas for the five mashed bananas; because they will exude a lot of liquid when thawing, you can skip the microwaving step and simply put them in the strainer. (Peel them before freezing to prevent the extracted liquid from turning black.) Do not use a frozen banana for the top of the loaf; it will be too soft to slice. Adapted from Cook's Illustrated. http://bit.ly/fBfyCw"
 
Download
photo by BakinBaby photo by BakinBaby
photo by BakinBaby
Ready In:
1hr 39mins
Ingredients:
10
Serves:
12
Advertisement

ingredients

Advertisement

directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F Spray an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan with non-stick spray.
  • Whisk together flour, soda and salt in a large bowl.
  • Peel 5 bananas and place in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, poke several holes, and microwave 5 minutes until bananas are soft and release water. Dump into a strainer set over a sauce pot and let stand about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You should have 1/2 to 3/4 c liquid.
  • Transfer bananas to a bowl. Boil collected liquid over medium-high heat, until reduced down to 1/4 cup. Add syrup back to bananas and mash with a potato masher. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla.
  • Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients. Stir until just barely combined, with a few streaks of flour showing. Add nuts and fold gently.
  • Transfer batter to prepared pan. Slice remaining banana into 1/4" slices on the bias. Arrange banana slices, overlapping, down the two long edges of the pan. Sprinkle top of banana slices and batter with sugar.
  • Bake in preheated oven, 55-75 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then remove from pan and let rest on a rack until completely cool. Tastes best the day its made, but will last up to 3 days if tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.

Questions & Replies

Got a question? Share it with the community!
Advertisement

Reviews

  1. This was perfectly acceptable banana bread but I didn't like it as much as my old standard recipe and it was more work. I followed the recipe exactly, even going up in the attic to dig out my smaller loaf pan... the batter almost overflowed the pan, so don't sweat using a bigger pan. It baked about 60 minutes in my oven and I should have taken it out a little earlier I think; it stays moister on top that most quickbreads.<br/><br/>I did like the sugar topping but I will not put a sliced banana on top again. They were ok right away but I am sure they will be a soggy unappetizing mess after being wrapped in plastic wrap.<br/><br/>I will try reducing the banana juice the next time I make my favorite recipe, as It sometimes comes out a tad heavy/wet in the middle.
     
  2. Great banana flavor. The extra steps made for a super flavor and moist too. Made for Cookbook Tag, Letter "U".
     
Advertisement

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I'm a 48 y/o gay Jewish man in the suburbs immediately north of New York City. I'm a general internist, practicing and teaching at a medical college north of NYC. I also earned a Masters in Public Health degree in 2013. After a Walt Disney World trip in Dec 2006 where I had to rent an electric scooter because I couldn't manage the walking, I decided to have gastric bypass surgery, which was done Feb 28, 2007. I lost 160 lbs (though I've gained back about 60 of that since). I can't eat as much as I used to, so I want every bite to be extra good!
 
View Full Profile
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Find More Recipes