Banana Nut Bread Pioneer Woman
Depending on your mood or plans, you can make banana bread in several different ways. On a whim, you might go with what you have in your pantry.
Equipment
- Loaf pan
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Butter, melted (at room temperature)
- ½ cup Sugar + 2 tbsp
- 5 tbsp Maple syrup
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 3 Whole eggs, lightly beaten (at room temperature)
- ½ cup Sour cream
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 2 teaspoon Baking powder
- 2 cups Mashed ripe bananas
- 1 cup Nut mix: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pecans
- 4 cups Flour + 2 tbsp
- 1 tbsp Lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Spray, or grease, and flour a loaf pan.
- To avoid a so-called “wet log” (a moist and uncooked block forming in the bottom of the loaf due to high-moisture bananas), mix the mashed bananas and sugar thoroughly for 5-7 minutes, and cook them in a pan.
- Simmer them on medium heat for 10 minutes to reduce moisture and caramelize the bananas, and get a much bolder banana flavor in your loaf. Let it cool down to room temperature before proceeding.
- Bring eggs, melted butter, and the banana-sugar mash to room temperature.
- To avoid a mushy or undercooked texture, we have to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately, avoiding overmixing the batter.
- Beat the eggs, and gradually add the butter, sugar-banana mix, vanilla extract, maple syrup, sour cream, and lemon zest.
- Add each ingredient, one-by-one, whisking for a few seconds after each.
- Alternatively, you can whisk the wet ingredients in a mixer.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients well, sifting the flour.
- Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry mixture with a spatula. Stop the gentle mixing as soon as it is evenly distributed, to avoid overmixing.
- Immediately pour the batter into the greased, floured pan. Don’t shake or bang the pan, as it releases the air from the batter, and you might get a flat, gummy-textured loaf.
- Bake the banana bread in the preheated oven for 55-70 minutes.
- After 50 minutes, start checking the loaf by inserting a toothpick in the middle, and see if it comes out clean. Repeat every 10 minutes, after the 50-minute benchmark, until the banana bread is ready.
- After the bread is ready and cooked just well, let it sit and cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting.
- It has to solidify some more. By cutting it oven-warm, you risk getting crumbly and dry banana bread.