I promise that this is the most delicious banana bread you’ve ever had- especially when it’s just cooled and is still warm, and soft, and fragrant! When I was a kid, my mom used to wake up at the crack of dawn every Sunday to make about half a dozen loaves of this banana bread for my youth orchestra rehearsals. That is definitely to way to be woken up on a Sunday morning, by the waft of delicious banana bread sweeping up the stairs- comfort food!
3 Super Ripe Bananas
120 grams (1/2 cup), Melted Butter
200 grams (1 cup), Caster/Granulated Sugar
2, Eggs
300 grams (2 cups), Self-Rising/ All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon, Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon, Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon, Vanilla Bean Paste ( or good quality extract)
1/2 teaspoon, Salt
3 Tablespoons, Milk
100 grams (3/4 cup), Ground Walnuts (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees C or 350 degrees F.
Rub your 2 lbs loaf tin all over with butter (or flavourless oil) and line with parchment/baking paper with enough so that it comes up the sides of the tin. This will let you simply lift out your bread once it’s baked. Once lined, set aside.
In a large bowl, mash up bananas with a fork.
Then add in your butter, sugar and eggs and mix well!
Add all the remaining ingredients, except the flour and walnuts.
Mix together!
Then add in your flour and walnuts and mix just until fully combined (we don’t want to overwork the gluten in the flours that will result in a tough loaf.)
Pour mixture into your prepared loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife, when inserting into the middle of your loaf, comes out clean.
Let cool for 15 minutes (otherwise it will be difficult to slice!)
Serve warm with apple butter, or cinnamon sugar butter, or just on its own with a cuppa tea!