Banana Bread: Tips & Techniques

[MightyD]

it's actually a recipe from a very dear friend who made me promise to keep it a secret ... she'd destroy me if i let out the secret!! but what i can say is that it does contain over a cup of mashed banana, sour cream, and only baking soda for leavening.

i don't puree the bananas, i put it through a ricer. isn't that pretty much the same as mashing it finely? i agree that when pureed, the bananas turn into a watery mess but putting it through the ricer still allows it some body.

maybe if i baked it in a cake pan, as Darcie suggested above. i really don't notice the texture being denser on the bottom though ...

hmmm ... many different techniques to try here ... roughly mash the bananas, bake it in a shallower pan, try lesser-ripe bananas ... holy shamoley that's a lot of banana bread to eat ...

[K8memphis]

it's actually a recipe from a very dear friend who made me promise to keep it a secret ... she'd destroy me if i let out the secret!!  but what i can say is that it does contain over a cup of mashed banana, sour cream, and only baking soda for leavening.

i don't puree the bananas, i put it through a ricer.  isn't that pretty much the same as mashing it finely?  i agree that when pureed, the bananas turn into a watery mess but putting it through the ricer still allows it some body.

maybe if i baked it in a cake pan, as Darcie suggested above.  i really don't notice the texture being denser on the bottom though ...

hmmm ... many different techniques to try here ... roughly mash the bananas, bake it in a shallower pan, try lesser-ripe bananas ... holy shamoley that's a lot of banana bread to eat ...

←

When I was in my banana baking days, I made a coupla mistakes. Like I forgot to mash the bananas first and I already had stuff in the mixer bowl eggs, butter, sugar, whatever. So God forbid I dirty up another bowl to mash 'em in so I just tossed the peeled whole bananas into the bowl and no they didn't mix up very well. So I had to smush them by hand and I didn't do a very complete job because of the quantity and time constraints. Oh well I thought, a few lumps won't hurt this time.

The bread was noticeably better. Cool. I mentioned my other incident where I could not wait for the bananas to darken. These booboos amazingly produced a better product for me. Therefore, I would never use a ricer for bananas. And while the charm of banana bread is that you are able to use up forgotten over-ripe bananas, this should never have become the gold standard in my book. It's not that great a stretch of the imagination when you think about it.

Have fun on your B Bread adventure!

Edited to add: Sarah, <highfive> on roughly mashed bananas!!!

And MightyD I'm sure Sarah asks only because your request brings out the Sherlock in her and she wants to solve the mustery.

Edited April 10, 2007 by K8memphis (log)

[Sarah Phillips]

I agree with K8! I don't use overripe bananas when making banana bread! (By the way, you can freeze extra bananas in their peels! Just throw them in as is! Cool, huh!?)

[K8memphis]

I agree with K8! I don't use overripe bananas when making banana bread! (By the way, you can freeze extra bananas in their peels! Just throw them in as is! Cool, huh!?)

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Very cool about freezing bananas and

We rock!!

And umm, for what it's worth, my b bread was one of the first things I posted here on egullet right here.

[Sarah Phillips]

Nice looking recipe, K8! (And, never let a frozen bunch of bananas fall out of the freezer and drop on you foot! OUCH!)

[Emily_R]

Hmmm... I also had heard that one could freeze ripe bananas, and in fact did so for several years. However I often found that when I made banana bread with previously frozen bananas the final product wound up leaden with not the best texture.. In fact, I've been dissatisfied enough with the frozen banana approach I'm just not using it any more.... I think it might have something to do with the fact that when thawed the frozen banans lose almost all of their texture -- turning very liquidy...

Anyway, just my 2 cents...

Emily

[srhcb]

Okay, this thread really piqued my curiosity. I bake banana bread quite often, and never noticed the phenomena described.

I had three large bananas that were quite ripe, (dark yellow with black speckles), but not quite as dark as I usually use. I like over-ripe fruit for banana bread because I think it's sweeter and more bananny(?). I mashed them with my old 1/4" square holed potato masher and stirred them together with the other wet ingredients until the mixture had a "lumpy pudding" consistency.

I often use part whole wheat or other flour in my banana bread, which I thought might disguise the darkening effect described, so this time I stuck with straight AP. I included two of my regular add-ins, mini chocolate chips and sunflower seeds, and a little Penzey's Baking Spice, but those shouldn't alter the visual aspects.

It's in the oven now. After dinner, when it's had time to cool, I'll cut it open for an inspection and report back here.

SB ("suffering" in the name of Science )

[srhcb]

It's in the oven now.  After dinner, when it's had time to cool, I'll cut it open for an inspection and report back here.

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Under close examination, even using a very bright light, I can't detect any variation in coloration in my banana bread.

I suspect that the described condition, (I hesitate to call it a "problem"), stems from the bananas themselves, since they'll always vary in size and ripeness, which affects both sugar content and texture.

Maybe we all subconsciously adjust our batter to minimize these differences, which could give rise to some unusual variations?

SB (like bananas because they have a peel)

PS: It tastes very good, thank you.

[K8memphis]

It's in the oven now.  After dinner, when it's had time to cool, I'll cut it open for an inspection and report back here.

←

Under close examination, even using a very bright light, I can't detect any variation in coloration in my banana bread.

I suspect that the described condition, (I hesitate to call it a "problem"), stems from the bananas themselves, since they'll always vary in size and ripeness, which affects both sugar content and texture.

Maybe we all subconsciously adjust our batter to minimize these differences, which could give rise to some unusual variations?

SB (like bananas because they have a peel)

PS: It tastes very good, thank you.

←

I laughed even though I knew better (a peel)!!

Wait, I hope no one thinks that I'm suggesting the dark bottomed b bread is from using over-ripe banana. No no no no no. I think the dark bottom b bread problem is from an emulsion issue with that particular batter that's top secret and apparently flawed. Maybe a detail or two is missing since it is so top secret. And because it doesn't work.

I was just relating my experiences with b bread in general. Just my own personal how to make great b bread. Because the op's formula is off. Needs a new one I think.

Edited April 13, 2007 by K8memphis (log)

[Lee_Clark]

Hi out there. I have a recipe for banana bread which I want to try adding coffee flavour to it. I think it could be a great combo, would I be wrong? If it's good, what would be the best way to get the coffe in there? Instant Freeze-dried, fresh ground beans or an espresso shot? Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Lee Clark

[Hahabogus]

Hi out there. I have a recipe for banana bread which I want to try adding coffee flavour to it. I think it could be a great combo, would I be wrong? If it's good, what would be the best way to get the coffe in there? Instant Freeze-dried, fresh ground beans or an espresso shot? Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Lee Clark

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I'd go espresso shot.

Do you soak any raisins used in the recipe in rum or brandy before adding them? Plumps them up nicely and adds dimensions of flavour to any quick bread recipe.

[hummingbirdkiss]

I agree use an espresso shot ..short of that some reall strong brewed

bananas and coffee great idea together ...

let us know how it turns out!

[gfron1]

I would just work in one or two Ts of espresso powder and go for the super jolt!

[CanadianBakin']

Coffee and banana are great together, even better with chocolate! Marcy Goldman has a recipe on her site www.betterbaking.com for Chunky Monkey Muffins. She uses 1 Tbsp strong brewed coffee to 1 cup mashed banana. They also have coconut, pecans and white & dark chocolate chunks. Very delicious!

[JWest]

Sounds great..maybe for a subtle flavor of coffee you could try making coffee bean sugar?

and use that in place of your regular sugar in your recipe.

[etalanian]

I would go with gfron1 and put in the instant espresso powder. Some really good dark chocolate bars, cut up, would be excellent with that, also. And don't forget toasted walnuts.

Eileen

[Lee_Clark]

Wow!

Thanks so much for the great ideas everyone! I only just recently joined the society, very chuffed indeed!

I will be sure to post back on here the results of all the ideas:)

[broadway]

I did a couple from the " Best Banana Bread Recipe, I haven't found one yet" thread. The Martha Stewart banana bread recipe was a definite keeper.

The CI recipe mentioned in the thread has moved it is now here here now.

[rcarter]

I once had an amazing version that had rum, coconut and lime.

[I_call_the_duck]

I like Tyler Florence's (before he sold out to Applebee's) recipe, but I added a bit more banana, more nuts, and banana liqueur (instead of vanilla).

[UnConundrum]

I'm not big on banana nut breads, but my son just adores them. His favorite recipe is here: http://www.recipesonrails.com/recipes/show...anana-nut-bread

[KatieLoeb]

Best tip I have for banana bread is to separate the eggs and beat the whites fluffy. Fold the fluffy whites into whatever recipe you're making as your last step before the pans and the oven. The difference in the final texture is quite noticeable.

[gnuf]

In the thread that broadway mentions, there is a post containing my very favourite recipe (the first one). I think the secret there is the extended baking time (2.5 hrs) at a low temperature (275 F) which gives a deep banana flavour.

[bburdulis]

I recently posted a recipe for banana bread that I've basically perfected to my taste... it's on my blog here.

[prasantrin]

I've decided to turn this into a banana bread failure topic, since my question doesn't seem to fit anywhere else.

Sometimes when I make banana bread, it get little bits of bitter spots. I thought they may be from leaving in the very top (bottom?) of the banana (sometimes there's a bit of harder black at one of the ends), but this time, I was very careful not to include the black bit, but I still had a spot or two of bitterness.

I was thinking that it might be from the inside of the banana peel--sometimes a thread or two of the inner peel comes off and gets mashed in to the bananas. But I used to eat the inner peel when I was a kid, and I don't remember it ever being bitter.

Does anyone else have experience with bitter banana bread? It's not the entire bread that becomes bitter, just spots here and there. So i don't think it's that my bananas are over-ripe. any other ideas?