Banana Bread!

I've kind of got a thing for banana bread (especially since it is one of my husband's favorite things). In fact, even though there are so many banana bread recipes posted here, there just may be a sequel to this post someday. However, for now, I hope you will appreciate some of my findings. I find that asking others for their favorite banana bread is a great way to start. So, let me start by sharing some banana bread recipes from my friends and relatives!

On another note:

Regarding my high altitude quick bread rising related trials, I have tried all sorts of things to get my quick breads to always work up here. I have read up on it extensively. I found plenty of advice. One suggestion I found said to use fewer wet ingredients and more dry ingredients. Another suggestion said to increase the amounts of your rising agents (baking soda/baking powder). At one point, I even used self-rising flour in place of the all-purpose flour (and still used the rising agents called for in the recipe). That actually helped a little bit...but one of the other times I did this, it still fell. I'm still experimenting. I'll keep you posted on my efforts, and my findings!

Above: April's Banana Bread made with all-purpose flour and 3-4 bananas.

Above: April's Banana Bread made with less bananas (decreasing the wet ingredients) and using self-rising flour.

April's Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon sour milk (to make, combine 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 teaspoon vinegar, and let sit for 5 minutes)
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 mashed bananas
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Chopped nuts, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Cream shortening and sugar, and then add sour milk. Add eggs and mix.

Sift together dry ingredients.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.

Mash bananas and add to mixture.

Stir in vanilla and nuts.

Pour into greased bread pan. Bake for 60 minutes. Makes one large loaf.

Source: I got this from my friend, April, who I served with in the Primary presidency. She got it from another friend. So, keep passing on the banana bread love!

Notes: I usually bake this at 350 degrees F (again, my altitude). I also add 1 teaspoon of baking powder in addition to the baking soda (altitude again).



Above: Another shot of the bread when made with self-rising flour.

 Above: April's Banana Bread

 

Above: Grandma Wright's Banana Bread.

Grandma Wright's Banana Bread (From Shandie)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 cup walnuts, optional

Directions:

Mix butter, sugar, and eggs together. Then add the soda and bananas. Add the flour last, followed by the nuts, if using.

Pour into greased bread pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Source: Here is what Shandie said about this recipe: "I can't even tell you how long this recipe has been passed down. My great grandma used to be the baker at the Lion House, and I believe this is the same recipe she used there." You can also use the batter to make banana muffins.

Notes: This is really good. It is really similar to April's recipe. However, I like to use both recipes frequently (it just depends on whether I have butter or shortening on hand). The butter gives the cooked bread a darker appearance and a richer, buttery flavor.

My bread didn't rise very much, but it is not the fault of the recipe, it is my darned altitude! (Again, I live on a mountain--it really does make a difference!) I usually add 1 teaspoon of baking powder in addition to the baking soda called for in this recipe as a result.

Banana Bread Minis

Ingredients:

1 pkgs (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1 pkg (3.4 oz) Jell-O Banana Cream Flavor Instant Pudding
4 eggs
1 cup water
1/4 cup oil
1 cup mashed fully ripe bananas (about 3)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat first 5 ingredients in large bowl with mixer 2 minutes or until well blended. Add bananas and nuts, if using. Mix just until blended.

Pour into 5 foil mini loaf pans sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool completely.

Recipe notes: You can substitute Jell-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding for the Banana Cream flavor.

Makes 20 servings, or 5 loaves, 4 servings each.

Nutrition information: 200 calories, 9 g fat, 45 mg cholesterol, 260 mg sodium, 28 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 20 g sugar, 3 g protein.

Source: Kraftrecipes.com. You can find it here.

Notes: You can bake this in a regular loaf pan. It will just need to bake for a longer amount of time (at least 55-60 minutes). These are fool proof for me while I live up on this mountain. The high altitude can wreak havoc on some baked goods, but when you have a cake mix base, this bread doesn't fall. Good news for me!

Elise's Friend Heidi's Friend Mrs. Hockmeyer's Banana Bread, as Jacked Up by Deb (and shared with me by Megan)

Ingredients:

3 to 4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 to 1 cup light brown sugar (depending on the level of sweetness you prefer)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Up to 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (I would suggest 1/4 teaspoon, but do it to your taste)
Pinch of ground cloves (1/8 teaspoon)
1 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla, and then spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix.

Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8-inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool on rack completely.

Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Source: I got this from Megan who found it here. They received their inspiration here. Lots of banana bread love to share around!

Notes: This is a fun spice bread with bananas added for moistness. I actually don't have a picture of this one because my bread fell (darn altitude!). However, Megan is a fantastic cook, and hers always turns out great (plus, she lives in the valley). The taste, however, was great (fallen bread or not)!

Mystery Online Banana Bread aka Whole Wheat Banana Bread aka Healthy Banana Bread aka No Oil/No Sugar Banana Bread aka Applesauce Honey Banana Bread aka The Greatest Banana Bread Ever without Sugar or Oil

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs, beaten
3 mashed overripe bananas
1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon (if using), baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream together applesauce, honey, eggs, and mashed bananas until well-blended.

Stir banana mixture into flour mixture, stir just until moistened.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in a preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick in center inserted comes out clean.

Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to continue cooling.

Source: I originally saw this recipe on Facebook. However, in doing a search for the original source, I discovered that I can't really find an original source. It has been all over the place! It was on Pinterest, as well as a number of blogs and sites. For instance: here, here, and here.

I also discovered that the picture that was posted with the recipe is most likely not the picture that goes with this recipe. I actually had my doubts that this banana bread would look as light as it did in the picture when it used whole wheat flour...but the recipe picture looked too good not to try. So, my proof that this picture doesn't match the recipe comes from two clues. First, my bread (even if you take into account my altitude) looks nothing like the bread from the picture (see the links above to see the picture). Second, I found another banana bread recipe that used the same picture, and yet it had totally different ingredients (regular white flour instead of whole wheat being the biggest difference). No way, no how is that picture the same for both recipes.

Notes: So, even though I have serious doubts that the picture that went along with the recipe I found is the picture that goes with that recipe, it is still a good bread. If you follow the recipe as stated above, it is more of a wheat bread (that uses bananas for added moistness) than it is a classic banana bread. However, it is still good stuff. It is not an overly sweet bread. My suspicion is that whoever originally posted the banana bread recipe above didn't have a picture for it and simply did some kind of an online search for a pretty banana bread picture and chose the picture that has helped this recipe to spread like wildfire. Perhaps it was someone's devious way of getting others to try out a healthy recipe. At any rate, that picture and that recipe are not the same thing. I swear it to you! Mark my words!

Best Ever Banana Bread 

(the other banana bread recipe that I found that matched the picture--which, to me, proves that the picture does not match the recipe found above.)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups granulated white sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

6 very ripe bananas, mashed (see recipe notes below)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottoms only of two (8x4-inch) loaf pans, or 1 (9x5-inch) loaf pan.

In large bowl, mix together sugar and butter. Add eggs, bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, and nuts, if using, until just moistened. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 8-inch loaves 1 hour, 9-inch loaves 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaf pans; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool about 1 hour before slicing.

Recipe notes: The original recipe called for 3-4 medium bananas. Trial proved that 6 was better.

Source: I found this recipe on a website called Tastebook.com. It cites the source as Gold Medal Flour. You can find it here. I also found this same exact recipe, but with a different image on Food.com here.

Notes: I actually haven't tried this recipe as I just discovered it today when I was trying to hunt down the original source for the other recipe. You can bet that I will be trying it this week! I am definitely curious to see how it will turn out! Maybe that image is just a red herring. Maybe the recipe that goes along with it doesn't exist. Maybe it is a picture from a bakery or something like that. However, there is a chance that this image might match the recipe just above. The lighter color of the bread matches the use of all-purpose flour versus whole wheat. Plus, these are pretty legitimate websites. I'll post my pictures when I try it out!

BONUS:

Cool trick so that you can search for the original source of an image:

1. Open up a Google search page. 
2. Click on "Images." It is on the top right side of the screen.
3. Drag the image into the space just below the search field.
4. It will then bring up all of the places that this image has been posted online.

In my new search for this image, I just came up with another source with a completely different banana bread recipe! You can check that recipe out here. Is this picture being used for just about every banana bread recipe out there?!