Banana Bread

Choosing the right bananas is crucial for the success of this recipe. You know those bananas on the counter getting too soft to eat, those with way too large black and brown patches, those overripe ones you worry about having to throw away, those are the ones we need for this recipe.

And while on the topic of throwing away overripe bananas. Don’t throw them away. Just put them in something airtight and place them in the freezer. You can use them to make smoothies, pancakes and this banana bread; all you’ll have to do is thaw them before using. Also, when you freeze them the skin is going to turn dark brown, don’t freak out about that, they are perfectly fine.

Not over mixing the batter and letting the bread cool down properly before slicing are also things you should be mindful about when making banana bread.

Also, if you don’t have a loaf pan, just use whatever you’ve got, it’ll taste just as good; just keep an eye on it when it’s baking because the baking time could be different from ours. And one last thing, if you don't have butter just use an equal amount of oil.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 heaped tsp. cinnamon powder
• 4 overripe bananas (we used ‘bonthiraiykeyo’, 1 cup when mashed)
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup melted butter (at room temperature)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2/3 tsp. vanilla essence
• 1 heaped tbsp. raisins

Instructions:

1. Prepare a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan. You can either grease it by rubbing oil on the bottom and sides and then dust the bottom and sides with flour, or cover the loaf pan with aluminium foil and rub a little bit of oil on the bottom and sides.
2. Preheat the oven at 175 degrees Celsius. (Preheating is simply heating the oven at least 10 minutes before putting the bread mixture in the oven to bake.)
3. Sift the flour into a bowl. Mix in salt, baking soda, cinnamon powder and set it aside.
4. In another bowl, mash the bananas using a fork. Don’t worry about mashing it super evenly or finely because a bit of banana chunk here and there is quite nice when the bread is baked.
5. Add the sugar, egg and butter, and mix again until everything is well combined. You can still use your fork for this step.
6. Add the milk and vanilla essence, and mix again until combined.
7. Now add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and gently fold using a spoon or spatula until the flour is just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix. If you do that, your banana bread could end up too dense and even rubbery.
8. Gently mix in the raisins.
9. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Wet your fingers and gently tap the mixture to smoothen the top.
10. Place it on the middle rack of your preheated oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Ours was done in an hour. However, oven temperatures differ, so keep an eye on yours.
11. When baked, remove from the oven. Don't start slicing straight away. At least let it cool down in the loaf pan for 10 minutes, then removed it from the pan and let it cool for another 10 minutes before slicing. This will ensure that the structure holds nicely without crumbling.