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Banana Bread Recipe

Banana Bread sliced
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Banana Bread sliced

We show you how to cook the perfect Banana Bread. This "bread" is really halfway between a cake and a bread. Whatever, your house will smell delicious after cooking this bread and it will be eaten with an hour!

A simple recipe which requires absolutely no cooking skills. The only slightly "different" ingredient are the bananas. It's essential that they are over-ripe. Around half of the skins should be brown which indicates that the banana flesh will be soft and slightly mushy.

There are two prime reasons for using slightly over-ripe bananas. The first is that the bananas will be sweeter and have a more concentrated banana flavour compared to normal bananas and this is key to this recipe. The second reason is that over-ripe bananas are easy to mash up.

You can speed up the ripening process by putting the bananas in a paper bag, or a plastic bag with small holes in it. Place the bag in a slightly warm area of the kitchen.

You can microwave bananas to soften them although they will lack that concentrated flavour. To do this, prick the skins all over with a fork and then microwave on high for up to a minute. Test the firmness and if necessary, microwave for 30 seconds more until they are soft.

A great use for over-ripe bananas which might otherwise be thrown away.

Rather bizarrely, in the United States they have a National Banana Day which is on the third Wednesday of April each year.

INGREDIENTS

The ingredients for Banana Bread are shown in the picture below.

Ingredients for Banana Bread
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Ingredients for Banana Bread

50g / 1lb (when peeled) Ripe bananas

225g / 8oz Self-raising flour

175g / 6oz Mixed dried fruit (see below)

140g / 5oz Superfine / caster sugar

110g / 4oz Butter

2 medium eggs

½ teaspoon of salt

Nutrition information per portion
 
PREPARATION TIME
: 10 minutes
 
COOKING TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes
 
DIFFICULTY: Easy
 
FREEZE: Yes
 
SERVINGS: Six slices
 
EQUIPMENT: A large mixing bowl.
A non-stick bread tin (approx 20cm x 10cm and 5cm deep).
 

PREPARATION

Take the butter (110g) from you fridge to allow it to warm up slightly.

Grease the bread tin with butter or margarine.

Separate out the individual fruit pieces in the mixed dried fruit. When you buy a pack of mixed dried fruit the different small fruits (sultanas etc.) are all clumped together. These need to be separated.

Peel then mash the bananas with a fork

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C / Fan 160°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4

ADVICE FOR BANANA BREAD

Mixed dried fruit is an equal mix of sultanas, raisins and currants with some dried peel thrown in for good measure. If you have a couple of those ingredients in the store cupboard already then you can make your own dried fruit mix yourself. The proportions and ingredients of the dried fruit are not crucial.

If you want to know more about how bread is made then click here for our bread pages.

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1

To make the Banana Bread mix, pour all the ingredients (except the dried fruit) into a mixing bowl and combine together. This can be done by hand using a fork.

Now add the dried fruit and mix well until they are distributed evenly.

Banana Bread mixture
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Banana Bread mixture

STEP 2

Pour the mixture into the greased bread tin and place in the centre of the oven. Don't open the oven for the next 45 minutes.

Banana Bread mixture in bread tin
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Banana Bread mixture in bread tin

STEP 3

After 45 to 50 minutes of cooking, test the banana bread to see if it's cooked. The moisture level in the bananas can vary considerably and affect the cooking time.

Test by inserting a skewer or fork into the middle of the bread. If it comes out "clean" your bread is cooked. If it has wet bread stuck to it, cook for a further ten minutes and test again.

Baked Banana Bread
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Baked Banana Bread

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