The Best Banana Bread
My mother's banana bread won first place in the Ventura County Fair in CA years ago. It's a family favorite! Hope you enjoy it too!
Equipment
- Mixer
- Bread Pans
- Mixing Bowl
- whisk
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour, dip & sweep method* 290g
- 1 tsp baking soda 5g
- 1 tsp baking powder 4.9g
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ cup salted butter, softened half a stick of butter
- 1⅓ cups granulated sugar 226g
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup sour cream 8 oz. container
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas About 2 bananas, 225g (whipped in the blender is best)
- ½ cup chopped pecans 56g
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350°F.
- Prepare 2 medium bread pans (8.5 x 4.5) or 1 large bread pan. Spray the pans and put parchment at the bottom of the bread pan(s). Spray the parchment paper as well.
- Take 2 bananas and whip them in blender to make 1 cup of mashed bananas. Set aside.
- Chop the pecans to make a ½ cup. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. (If you don't have a sifter, you can whisk everything together in a bowl.) Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter on high speed until fluffy. (About 1-2 minutes.) You can use a hand held electric mixer if you don't have a KitchenAid.
- Gradually add the sugar. Continue beating until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add vanilla.
- Turn the mixer on low. Alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream to the sugar mixture. (Start and end with the flour mixture. Alternate between 3 additions of the flour mixture and 2 additions of the sour cream.) Mix until incorporated.
- Add the mashed bananas and chopped pecans to the mixture. Mix just until it's blended.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s).
- Bake for 40-60 minutes. If you are using a non-stick dark colored pan, it usually cooks in 40 minutes or so. If using a light colored pan, it takes about 53-60 minutes. Regardless of what pan you use, it's good to check it at the 40 minute mark to see if it's done. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the banana bread in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Then turn it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
*Dip and sweep method: this means you take the measuring cup and scoop it into the flour and then level the top off evenly with the flat part of a knife.
This makes 1 large loaf or 2 medium loaves in a 8.4 x4.5 bread pan or 4 small loaves.
This bread tastes even better the next day! You can freeze the bread for 1-2 months. Once the bread is completely cooled, wrap it in plastic wrap. Then wrap it in foil and stick it in the freezer.
Advice tip: The riper the banana, the sweeter the bread will be. If I have over ripe bananas, I like to peel them first, stick them inside a ziplock bag, and then place them in the freezer. They're much easier to mash that way rather than having to peel frozen bananas. If the bananas were frozen, I warm them up in the microwave so they are at room temperature rather than frozen when I add them to the batter. Enjoy!