Making a Better Banana Bread

I have always liked the flavor of my banana bread recipe, but it was somewhat dense. Also nuts or chocolate chips fell to the bottom of the loaf. So I decided to try to use kitchen chemistry to see if I could fix those issues.

There are a lot of recipes out there for banana bread. This is one I have had for years. I wanted to start my experiments on something I knew the taste and texture well, so I understand what changed.

The original recipe called for creaming together the butter and sugar, then adding the eggs one at a time. The bananas and vanilla were added next, then the dry ingredients and the milk.

I knew from books such as Cookwise (which I talked about a bit here) that as soon as you add liquids to baking powder (or liquids and something acidic to baking soda) they immediately begin to produce gas. This is why it is important with quick bread to get them in the oven as soon as they are mixed up.

So I did a little searching and found several recipes that suggested mixing the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, then combining them.

Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup shortening or butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 medium bananas, mashed
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

First I prepared my pans, greasing them lightly. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

I mixed together the melted butter, eggs, bananas, milk and vanilla in a bowl. I combined all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Gently mix the wet and dry ingredients together until they are just combined. The mixture will be lumpy. I then stirred in the chocolate chips.

There are bubbles rising in the batter. This is why it is important to work quickly.

I put the batter in the pans and popped it in the oven. Since I divided the batter into two pans, I baked the banana bread for about 50 minutes, testing the center with a tooth pick. If you are making one large loaf, it may take 60 minutes or so to bake.

Allow the banana bread to cool for about 5-10 minutes in the pan and then remove to cool on a wire rack.

This method worked out really well. The bread was slightly crisp on the outside. The center was light and moist and the chocolate chips were well distributed throughout.

I think I may have to try a different quick bread next time!