Overripe Bananas?
If you buy a bunch of fresh bananas and then get distracted by life and other tasty options in your fruit drawer, you will often end up with a collection of very ripe bananas. We’ve all been there. This just means it’s the perfect time for banana bread. Throwing out these fully ripe bananas would indeed be a sin since this recipe is so easy and really doesn’t take that long.
This recipe yields two loaves, so you can give one away as a gift, or freeze for another day. A home full of the smell of fresh baked Spiced Banana Bread warms the soul and announces to anyone coming through the door that home is an escape from the world, comforting, alive. The first thing I always do is to cut a slice and spread some good quality butter over it while it’s still warm. Banana bread makes a great breakfast or snack anytime of day.
The key to banana bread is to start with very ripe bananas. Bananas that are completely yellow are best eaten as-is or packed in a lunch bag. When the bananas get really soft and dark, they are perfect for banana bread since the flavor will be highly concentrated enough to permeate the bread. If you use bananas too soon (when they are yellow or green) you may not find that rich banana taste you crave.
Add all of the wet ingredients with the sugar. It is not necessary to whip the sugar and butter together as you do in other recipes. The sugar will readily dissolve in all of the wet ingredients.
I like to use my hands with kitchen gloves to smash the wet banana mixture together. This way I preserve medium size chunks of banana and butter which taste great after the final bake, and gives the bread a little more pop. You can combine the mixture in a food processor, but it will lack those sweet chunks of banana.
Add all of the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl.
Thoroughly combine the dry ingredients.
Add 1/3 of the wet mixture at a time, to prevent batter from splattering out of the bowl.
I like to slowly lower the tilt head of my mixer (on the lowest setting) into the mixture and let it mix the wet into the dry. I stop periodically and scrape/fold with a rubber spatula to make sure all of the dry ingredients are getting incorporated. By the time all of the wet has been added, I will run the mixer just enough to make sure the batter is smooth, then stop. Refrain from over mixing.
I prepare a regular bread pan with Baker’s Joy cooking spray, which is a mixture of oil and flour. However, you can use regular butter or an oil spray like Pam to coat the bread loaf pan. Fill each pan a little over half way. The bread will need all this space to expand.
Once the loafs have baked for approximately one hour, insert toothpicks into a couple of places through the top. The toothpicks should come out clean. Once the bread batter is cooked through, remove from the oven and set on a wire rack over a cookie sheet. The residual heat will allow the crust to fully set and release from the pan. Rolling the banana bread out of the pan while it is still too hot can cause the bread to fall apart or stick.
After the bread has cooled in the pan for 10 minutes you can gently roll the bread out of the pan (while supporting the bread with one hand on top) and let it cool the rest of the way on a wire rack.
Spiced Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 6-7 about 3-1/2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger paste
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened.
- 1 cup sugar granulated
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 eggs whole
- 1 tsp banana extract optional for extra banana flavor kick
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon ground
- 1/2 tsp cloves ground
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg ground
- 1/4 tsp cardamom ground
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, add the bananas, sour cream, milk, ginger, vanilla, softened butter, sugar, whole eggs and banana extract. Either use your hands with kitchen gloves or hand mixer on low to mash the bananas together with the other ingredients until fully incorporated, leaving small chunks of banana if you wish.
- In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle whisk, add the flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground clove, ground nutmeg, ground cardamon and salt. Mix all ingredients well.
- Slowly add the banana mixture to the flour mixture in 3-4 batches, running the mixer on low, and mix until the banana mixture is just incorporated. After the last batch of banana mixture is added increase the speed to medium. Stop after 30 seconds and, with a rubber spatula, work the batter around the sides to make sure all of the flour and banana mixture has been absorbed. Stop mixing after all the ingredients come together.
- In two 5x9 inch loaf pans spray the pan with Baker's Joy, Pam or butter the pan by hand.
- Pour half of the batter into each pan and then lightly drop on the counter or wood cutting board to remove any bubbles.
- Place each loaf pan in the center of the oven and cook for 1 hour or until you insert a toothpick into the loaf and it comes out clean.
- Once cooked, remove from the oven and let rest on a wire cooling rack in the pan for 10 minutes.
- After the bread has been allowed to cool, support the top of the bread with one hand and gently roll the bread out with the other. Let the bread to continue to cool on the wire rack if desired.
- Serve warm with a bit of butter or allow to cool completely before wrapping in plastic wrap or foil. Keep the banana bread refrigerated or freeze for up to 2 months.