Tasty, healthy and simple to make, banana bread is a hit with families, especially children. Banana bread can be served as a desert, a breakfast food or a great snack for sending with the children to school. Using bananas that are overripe is a great way to stretch your food dollars. Let’s make banana bread.

Gather the Ingredients

To start, gather all the materials and ingredients you need. Take 1 3/4 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup of shortening or softened butter, some extra flour, cooking spray or butter to grease the pan and a cup of mashed bananas. Try to aim for 2 bananas mashed completely.

The Process

Turn the oven to 350 degrees and get your pan ready by spraying it with cooking spray and dusting it will flour. This allows the bread to be taken out of the pan with ease. Mix the mashed bananas with the baking soda, salt, flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.

Now put in the shortening or butter that is softened and mix this until it looks like crumbs. Add two eggs and mix some more. Put this mixture into the pan you have prepared. Bake this for about 30 or 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Check to see if it is done by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the pan and when it comes out with nothing on it, your banana bread is ready to come out of the oven.

Finishing Tips

Use the proper size pan and it will make this process much simpler. A 4 x 8 inch deep pan is perfect. The oven should not be opened a lot since this will increase the amount of time the bread will have to bake. Every time you open the door, heat escapes and reduces the temperature in the oven.

The bananas you choose should have a lot of brown spots on the peels. These overripe bananas are sweeter than ones that are just ripe. Covering your bread with aluminum foil will keep it from browning too quickly on top and leaving the middle raw. This lets the bread bake and slows down the browning. If you have extra bananas and want to make a couple more pans of banana bread, it can be frozen to use later and will be nice and fresh. Be safe and do not forget your oven mitts when removing hot pans from the oven.

Making Chocolate Banana Bread

If chocolate banana bread is going to be made, you simply add a teaspoon of vanilla, a cup of chocolate chips (dark) and enough icing sugar to dust. This can be done when you are mixing the baking powder and flour together inside the bowl. Add the icing sugar then as well. The chocolate chips and butter can be melted by using a double boiler. This variety will take about an hour to bake and the loaf can be dusted with the icing sugar when it is done. Allow cooling for about 50 minutes before slicing.

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Tags : bread recipe, Cooking, recipe
Categories : Baking, Recipes