The Best Banana Bread
Put those frozen bananas to good use. THIS is the recipe you've been waiting for.
I’ve been perfecting this banana bread recipe for years and it’s finally ready to share with you all. Feel free to sub in avocado oil instead of olive oil, but don’t skip the walnut topping!
Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: ~80 minutes
Servings: 8-10
Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fresh ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar, plus 1 tbsp for the topping
2 eggs
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3-4 bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
50g cold butter
Equipment
2 mixing bowls
Whisk
Baking pan
Parchment paper
Method
Step 1 - The Batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F with the rack positioned in the centre.
In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk eggs and sugar for 10 minutes.
Don’t skip this part! It’s a pain but it needs to happen.
Add in the bananas, sour cream, vanilla, and olive oil. Continue to whisk for one more minute.
Pro tip: Freeze your bananas as you usually do, then on baking day, place the entire banana into a mixing bowl filled with room temp water for 5-10 minutes. Then, carefully, add them to the egg and sugar mixture by snipping off the bottom of the banana and letting the flesh slide out of the peel.
In the other mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine.
Step 2 - Prep for Baking
Pour the batter into a parchment paper lined baking tin.
Pro tip: Don’t worry about how awkward it is to line the baking tin with parchment paper—don’t worry too much about all of those folds and bunched up areas of paper. Just do your best and try to flatten it best you can. Take your time with this. All of that extra paper and awkward folds make for a bunch of nooks and crannies that make more crispy edges during the baking process. This is a good thing!
Step 3 - The Toppings
Crush the walnuts and add to the surface of the batter.
As you crush the walnuts I recommend aiming for about half pulverized into almost a course flour and the other half are little chunks.
Sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar over the entire surface, making sure to coat the surface from edge to edge.
Break up the 50g of butter and place sporadically over the walnuts and sugar.
Bake at 350°F for 80-90 minutes or until a knife can be pushed in and removed without any wet batter sticking to it. Make sure to keep an eye on it as you don’t want the crust to get too dark.
Remove from the oven and place on a baking rack for around 10 minutes, then dig in!