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Banana Bread Recipe: Create A Family Tradition
By Ben Cook | November 7, 2009
If you are looking for the perfect banana bread recipe, you need to first start with the basics. If you have not already done so, invest in a simple cookbook that has all the basic recipes, as well as some general tips such as how to fold eggs properly. You want to start with a basic banana bread recipe. And then you are going to make it your own.
There is not a whole lot of difference between basic banana bread recipes. They will all pretty much call for flour, sugar (regular or brown), eggs, butter, salt, baking soda and, you guessed it, bananas. They may differ slightly in the amounts of each ingredient. I like moist baked goods, so I will choose a variation that has greater quantities of moist ingredients, for example, a recipe that calls for more eggs.
You should also use the best quality ingredients you can find. Use only organic, unrefined sugar and actual butter rather than margarine. The right ripeness of bananas is key, and this can take a little experience to determine. But you will want bananas that are overripe for eating, with very brown peels.
Try the basic recipe out as is so you can be sure you like it, as well as be familiar with the flavor and consistency. Once you have found a recipe you know you like, you get to play. Just think about what sounds like a good addition to you, and then look for another recipe for any bread that has that ingredient so you know how much to use.
Here is an example. I think chocolate chips would be an awesome addition to a banana bread. So, I go to find a recipe for a bread that uses chocolate chips. Check the amount the recipe is supposed to make and be sure it matches what you have for the banana bread. If the apple chocolate chip bread calls for 1 cup of chips, that is a good place to start for your banana bread.
You might be thinking that chocolate chips sound great, but you need to have walnuts with those chips. Sounds good to me! But you will need to put in a little less of the chips to accommodate the nuts you are adding. A mistake that many people make is to change the recipe so there is no longer the same proportion of add-ins to batter. This will alter the consistency of your bread, and often not to your liking.
Maybe you are thinking you love walnuts in banana bread, but you think pecans would be good as well. Again, no problem. If your recipe calls for a cup of walnuts, use a half cup of walnuts and a half cup of pecans. Or get really daring and use a third cup each of walnuts, pecans and almonds.
Usually what happens after a period of experimentation is that you find a banana bread recipe that you and your family love so much, you stop experimenting. Before you know it, that special blend is now known as Aunt Mollys Banana Bread. And that is how a family tradition is born.
Ben Cook tells you how to make banana bread in your home kitchen and gives you lots of simple and quick banana bread recipes on his recipes for banana bread website.
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