10.5 inches long and 12 oz. Whoa. Jane is really growing the bebe. Banana week! What else to make but Banana Bread? I thought about making another pie but how much pie can two people eat already? So, a breakfast treat it is. I love this recipe. The brown sugar, the caramelization of the bananas, the crunchy turbinado sugar topping. Comfort food at it’s finest.
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, plus more for pan
1 cup (190 grams) packed light brown sugar
2 slightly heaped cups (about 18 ounces or 510 grams) (updated weight, see why) of mashed banana, from 4 extra-large or 5 medium-large bananas
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2-1 cup oven toasted walnuts(optional)
2 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar (on top)
-grease pan and sugar pan w turning as well to coat so batter climbs up walls easily
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 6-cup (9×5-inch) loaf pan (see note up top if yours is smaller) or coat it with a nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Melt butter in a large bowl and whisk in brown sugar until smooth, then stir in mashed banana. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Sprinkle the surface of the batter evenly with salt, cinnamon, nutmeg (if using), baking soda, and baking powder, and whisk until the ingredients are fully dispersed in the batter, and then whisk 10 more times around the bowl because it’s better to be overly cautious than to end up with unmixed pockets. Add flour and nuts stir until combined. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan. It should come to just over 1/2-inch from the top rim. Sprinkle the top of the batter with the raw sugar; it will seem like a lot but will bake up beautifully.
Bake banana bread for 55 to 65 minutes. It is done when a toothpick(use a skewer! It is a deep loaf pan to test center of bread) inserted into the bread is batter-free — be sure to check the upper third as well, near the rim of the pan; that’s where I’d find the unbaked pockets of batter hanging out. The bread will get dark but will not taste burnt.
