Looking for the perfect textured banana bread? This banana bread sticks together with very little crumbliness and sports a beautiful domed top. The slices not only have the perfect texture but taste amazing as well.
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Hello my friends!
I’m so excited about this post. I love love love banana bread. I already told you that when I posted these banana bread muffins, but I have to say it again.
Banana bread is so good.
A few weeks ago when we were asking the young women from our church congregation to plan their meals for girl’s camp, they asked if they could have banana bread for breakfast one day. Not just any banana bread. They wanted this banana bread. The recipe I’ll be sharing today.
The recipe comes from Sheriece F, who is the mom of one of our girls. They all swore up and down it was the best banana bread they had ever had and the only banana bread they wanted.
So of course with that kind of a reputation, I had to try it.
I immediately asked Sheriece for the recipe and I’ve made it several times since.
This banana bread is completely worthy of the glowing reputation it was given. Every time I make it, it has been a huge hit. And what I love the best about this banana bread is it’s beautiful, perfect texture.
The Cook’s Treat banana bread bakeoff
One day (when I was feeling super ambitious) I baked this banana bread along with five of my other favorite banana bread recipes.
Yes, five others.
I know. I know. Some serious cooking nerdiness going on here.
I’m calling this nerdy fest “The Cook’s Treat Banana Bread Bakeoff”.
I had the young women over that night and I asked them to unofficially (and without knowing which bread was which) pick their favorite banana bread from the six options.
And of course, being the cook, I tasted them all myself (the cook’s treat privileges and all, you know).
The results were really surprising. I learned that everyone really has their own idea of what their favorite banana bread is. Some liked the same one, but for different reasons.
Every one of the six breads were a winner to someone that night. And in many cases they won because of what was familiar to the taster. Often it reminded the tasters of the kind of banana bread they were used to eating growing up.
With those kind of results I really can’t say that any one of those six is THE BEST banana bread. And I personally can’t really choose a favorite because I liked them all for different reasons.
But…I did find a winner for the perfect textured banana bread that night. And it was this recipe that I’m sharing with you today.
The best way to mash bananas
For a perfect texture in this banana bread, makes sure those bananas are mashed well first before adding them to the batter.
Here’s a few hints:
- Make sure you start with ripe bananas that are soft but not mushy. Bananas that are not ripe will not give very good flavor and will be difficult to mash.
- I like to use a fork and mash the bananas on a plate. That’s the quickest, easiest way I’ve found to get nice mashed bananas.
The best texture + amazing flavor
I’ve been trying to think of how to describe the texture of this perfect textured banana bread.
The crust is sturdy and a beautiful deep brown and it has a nice rounded dome top. I love how it slices up so smooth and even.
This is not your mushy banana bread with chunks of bananas in it. No. Instead it’s uniform and very smooth textured. And it’s still perfectly moist, but holds it’s shape without being overly crumbly.
And let’s talk about the taste because it is also delicious.
With just a hint of cinnamon, this banana bread is unique and unlike any other I’ve had. With it’s texture and flavor it actually reminded me more of a zucchini bread than a banana bread at first.
You can sure taste that it has bananas in it, but the texture is so smooth and the flavors so perfect that it’s not overpoweringly or glaringly banana-like. I’d imagine that people that don’t think they like banana bread may like this banana bread because of those reasons. I happen to like a huge variety of banana breads so I really couldn’t say for sure, but that is my guess.
Whether you have a professed favorite banana bread recipe or not, give this one a try. For me it definitely stands out as one of the top contenders for my favorite banana bread ever. And it’s sure to be made again and again at our house.
Perfect Textured Banana Bread
Looking for the perfect textured banana bread? This banana bread sticks together with very little crumbliness and sports a beautiful domed top. The slices not only have the perfect texture but taste amazing as well.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (7.5 ounces) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed (about 8 ounces or 1 cup – see note)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or alternately can use 325 for convection bake ovens). Grease and flour a 9X5-inch loaf pan.
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In a large bowl, cream softened butter and granulated sugar with a hand mixer until well mixed. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until fluffy.
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To a medium bowl add flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda together and whisk until well mixed.
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Add a third of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat with a hand mixer until no flour streaks remain. Add a third of the mashed bananas to the batter and beat with a hand mixer until well incorporated.
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Repeat with half of remaining flour and half of remaining bananas, one at a time, alternating as before.
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Repeat with remaining flour and remaining bananas, alternating one at a time again. Stir in vanilla extract.
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Add batter to prepared bread pan and bake in preheated oven for 60 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Recipe Notes
1. Always use ripened bananas (bananas with a few brown spots are perfect). The easiest way I’ve found to mash them evenly is with a fork on a plate.
2. If you like a crispier crust to your banana bread, add a shallow pan of water (I use a broiler pan with 1 ½ cups of water) at the beginning of the baking time to the bottom of the oven to create steam.
3. This banana bread freezes great. Cool completely then pack the entire loaf into a freezer bag. I’ve also had success with slicing the bread first and then packing it into a ziplock freezer bag. It will freeze well for up to a month (or more).
Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat, adapted from a recipe shared with me by Sheriece F. Thanks Sheriece!
All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat
Disclaimer: post contains affiliate links for items on Amazon.
I hope this is the good one. This will be my third recipe in the past 3 days. The other recipes were way to moist and dark. so I thought . Everyone loved them but its not what Im after. Hopefully this one will be,