Banana Bread Baffled

[wghman]

Howdy!

I make B Bread from a recipe in the Joy of Cooking....something called
quick B bread. Family loves it...it's dense, rich, and heavy, like a fruit cake.

The Bob Evan's chain sells a B bread that is lighter, more cake-like, and very flavorful.

In general, how are B breads made lighter and more cake-like?

Thanks as always for your help,
warren hartman

 

[Yakuta]

Coincidentally I just made two loaves yesterday that my family enjoyed for breakfast and snack time. I have made mine for years using the recipe I have listed. It is fail proof and comes out good everytime. It's more like a cake but not airy but very moist.

1 stick of unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 and 1/4 cups of white sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1.5 cups of mashed bananas (this time I used 5 small bananas)
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of salt
2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
pecans or walnuts crushed (about a cup)

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next add the eggs and bananas and stir some more until it's all well incorporated. Next add the salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla extract and milk. Beat it for another second. Now slowly add the flour until it's all incorporated. Fold in the nuts.

Divide into two oiled loaf pans and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for an hour to hour and 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I let them cool completely and then invert them on foil and then wrap them and store. Cut in slices and enjoy. it is moist, cakelike and delicious.

 

[Haggis]

Due to the nature of banana bread I feel that the trade off for making a banana bread that was more lighter and more airy would be a reduction in the amount of banana present within the batter as it is the fruit itself that makes it dense.

 

[wghman]

Banana Bread Bettered

Thanks very much for the recipe and the suggestions.
I'll try the remedies; I'm certain they will help.

Warren Hartman,
Better banana bread baker

 

[Piccolina]

Hi wghman, welcome to DC!

I've got a smattering of banana bread recipes and honestly like a dense one (usually) but if you've hankering for a lighter b-bread you can usually get away with turning a banana muffin recipe into a loaf recipe. In this case I usually just a tad more flour and oil and an extra egg. You may have to change the cooking temp of you muffin recipe but it's worked well for me this way. A neat treat is to add a handful of chocolate chips or (once the baked loaf is cooled) drizzle a little melted chocolate over the top - yum!

 

[Debbie]

speaking of banana bread... does anybody have a problem with it getting a bit to done on the outside... How do you prevent that.?.. I thought an insulated bread pan would be a good idea.. but never seen one. I have tried glass, dark metal and shiny metal.. and they all end up being to dark on the outside... if I take out earlier the bread isn't really done on the inside... suggestions?

 

[Sandyj]

Amazing - I've been eyeing a bunch of overripe bananas in my kitchen, thinking, I should look up a recipe....and voila, Yakuta posts what looks like a fabulous one. I usually just make up my banana bread as I go along depending on what I have in the house and it usually turns out well, but I'm trying to be more disciplined and actually follow recipes.
Debbie - try dropping the temp in your oven by about 25 degrees farenheit (you're getting this advice from a person who "wings it" alot, so you should probably look at what others have said).
Sandyj

 

[Piccolina]

speaking of banana bread... does anybody have a problem with it getting a bit to done on the outside... How do you prevent that.?.. I thought an insulated bread pan would be a good idea.. but never seen one. I have tried glass, dark metal and shiny metal.. and they all end up being to dark on the outside... if I take out earlier the bread isn't really done on the inside... suggestions?

Try lining the tin with a bit of parchment or grease-proof paper, this might do the trick I've also seen (but have yet to try) that you can now buy loaf and cake pan liners that are like giant muffin wrappers. I wonder if those would help to prevent browning too - worth a shot if you happen to know where to find any.