Moist Banana Bread Recipe
July 28, 2008 by Kayla
Those bananas are on their last leg. You’ve watched them sit on your kitchen counter… changing colors from a sunny yellow to a dingy brown. There’s even that little squishy part on the bottom. We’ve all lived this nightmare.
Would you believe me if I said you could do something with those mushy brown bananas? No… not garden fertilizer. Some of the best (and moist) banana bread I’ve ever made was from the brownest banana in the bundle! It may sound strange… gross… or even unsafe to eat those rotting bananas, but they are safe (and tasty in bread).
My mom and I have been baking banana bread using this recipe for as long as I can remember. It makes a great holiday gift because you can buy those disposable foil loaf pans. They’re inexpensive and you can easily wrap up your loaves in some festive cellophane wrap (tied with a ribbon) for an extra touch.
It’s a cheap way to say happy holidays… or if it’s not a holiday season, it’s just a good way to remind someone that you’re thinking of them. My neighbors, especially, love these loaves!
Yield: 16 servings (note: the mini foil loaves will only have 8 servings)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
- ½ cup plain low-fat yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Non-stick cooking spray
Directions:
1) Preheat over to 350 degrees .Combine flour, baking soda and salt and blend with a whisk. Set aside.
2) Place sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about one minute).
3) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt and vanilla and beat until blended. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed just until moist.
4) Spoon batter into an 8 ½ x 4 ½ -inch loaf pan coated with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean.
5) Cool 10 minutes in pan or on a wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!
I especially love this bread right out of the oven and a glass of milk! For fun variations to this delicious recipe try adding a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or a cup of your favorite nut (I like pecans in this recipe.)
You can make the bread plain as well. To distinguish the loaves, sprinkle a little bit of your “special ingredient” on top of the loaves, like the chocolate chips or the pecans. Yum! I think you too will find that this moist banana bread recipe is completely worth the wait for the brown bananas!
I’m curious about the “baking soda”. Is it because the bananas are acidic that baking powder is not needed? I have a recipe without yogurt that call for a whole tsp. of baking soda — is the yogurt helping with the rising or is it the fermenting banana beyond its prime? I know that when I see brown specks on the skin of a banana it is sweet tasting. What happens when it’s totally brown? Anyway sounds good.
Banana Basics!
Wow! What a good question! Well, let’s get started. First of all, let’s tackle the basics. Many breads, in order to rise, use yeast. For this banana bread recipe since we don’t use yeast, you need baking soda, baking powder, or a combination of the two.
All we’re using is baking soda what you need to add is an acid liquid to produce the same reaction as yeast. In our case, the acid liquid is yogurt, which is produced by adding a “starter” of active yogurt. This starter is essentially a mixed culture of Lactobacillus bulgaricus (or occasionally L. acidophilus ) and Streptococcus thermophilus.
These are basically milk fermenters and they produce lactic acid during fermentation of lactose. The lactic acid lowers the pH, making the yogurt tart, therefore creating the acid liquid you need for the baking soda.
Since yogurt is needed in order to complete the reaction with the baking soda, it is that acidy which causes the bread to rise. (This is obviously because when baking soda reacts, it releases small bubbles of carbon dioxide and voila… bread rises!)
As for the banana turning brown… well that’s another story. What causes a banana to turn brown is actually the same thing that keeps us alive… oxygen. When cells on the surface of the banana become aged or damaged, oxygen is let in. Inside the banana there is an enzyme (called polyphenol oxidase or tyrosinase) which reacts with oxygen and iron-containing phenols.
When it does, the cells die… causing the brown color. As a banana ripens it becomes sweeter (which is why I like to use overly ripe bananas). When a banana is totally brown, it is most likely no good because many of the cells would be spoiled.
You can refrigerate or freeze bananas and their skins will turn dark brown, however the banana on the inside will be nearly the same as when you put it in the freezer. Hope this helps! Enjoy the banana bread recipe… I know I sure do!
Happy Baking!
-Kayla