Classic Banana Bread Recipe
What do you do when you have bananas getting ripe in the fruit bowl? Make banana bread, of course. It’s a simple treat that everyone will love, and you can’t beat our Classic Banana Bread recipe. This moist, fluffy banana bread only takes 1 hour from start to finish, so it’s also a great way to get the kids involved in the kitchen. Let them mash the banana, whisk the eggs and stir the wet and dry ingredients together – they’ll be so excited to try the end result. Serve it warm with butter for afternoon tea or weekend brunch.
Ingredients you will need for Banana Bread
To make our Classic Banana Bread, you’ll find everything you need at your local Coles. Before you start, gather your ingredients – self-raising flour, brown sugar and baking powder can all be found in the baking aisle. We used Australian free range eggs, and you can rest easy knowing that all Coles Brand shell eggs sold nationally are cage-free. While some banana bread recipes use melted butter, we’ve used oil here – we recommend either canola, vegetable or sunflower oil for the classic banana bread. Adding buttermilk to your baking, like we’ve done, helps the banana bread rise and gives it a soft texture. And of course, the hero ingredient in this recipe is the banana. It’s important to use overripe bananas – the more ripe the bananas, the better. If you have time, leave the bananas to ripen at room temperature, which can take 2-4 days depending on how green your bananas are. Here’s a couple of tips to speed up the process though: pop the bananas in a paper bag with an apple and loosely seal to ripen in 1-2 days. Even shorter on time? Pop unpeeled bananas on a lined baking tray and bake at 150°C for 15 mins or until the skin blackens. Cool, peel and mash then use in this recipe. One last tip on bananas for this recipe - you can also use frozen bananas. When they are getting really ripe and you don’t have time to bake, just pop them in the freezer (peel and all). Defrost in a bowl. The peel will go black but just peel this away and mash the banana then you’re ready to bake.
As well as creating an irresistibly rich banana bread, we’ve taken it a step further with creating a caramelised topping using sliced banana, butter and more brown sugar.
Utensils you will need for Banana Bread
Aside from gathering the right ingredients, you’ll also need the right utensils. Grab a 10cm x 24cm loaf pan – make sure you take those measurements from the base of the pan. If you don’t have one, you’ll find them in the kitchen essentials aisle at your local Coles. When it comes to baking, a variety of mixing bowls will help you easily mix the ingredients. A potato masher will easily mash the overripe bananas, but you can use a fork if needed. A balloon whisk is also recommended, not only to whisk your eggs and mashed banana together, but to incorporate them into the dry ingredients for a light and airy mixture. Plus, you’ll also need a large frying pan to caramelise the banana for the topping in the recipe.
Our Tips - Get the perfect taste & texture
Here are some basics to getting the recipe just right:
- Perfect measuring: It’s important to make sure you’re using the right amount of flour by filling the measuring cup with flour and using the back of a knife to level it out. Don’t fill the cup over the bowl you’re using, in case you overfill the cup or excess flour spills into the bowl.
- Combining the wet and dry ingredients: When stirring the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, only mix until just combined – a few lumps here and there is okay. Overmixing the ingredients will overwork the gluten and result in a tough banana bread.
- Cooking time: Don’t overbake the banana bread or it will be dry and crumbly. We recommend baking for 45 minutes, but test the banana bread at 40 minutes if your oven runs hot. A skewer inserted into the centre of the banana bread should come out clean. If the skewer comes out with wet mixture clinging to it, bake for a further 5 minutes before testing again.
