Going Bananas over Banana Bread

Last night in between breaks watching the Mumbai Indians post their third successive loss, I noticed a few bananas in the fruit basket, resting away peacefully, without a worry of being devoured. Infact they had been resting there for some time now…a few days only, but they were now very ripe and just the right to being mashed away into some banana bread.

Banana bread is a type of quick bread that uses baking powder as a leavening agent rather than yeast. Thus, it is also more of a cake. Also, unlike most breads where you end up making a dough and rest it, here you end up making a batter. All the more reason, of it being more of a cake.

The first banana bread was probably baked in America in early 1930’s and since then its popularity has only spread. It is now a staple of many breakfast cafes’ around the world and has so many variations right from Chocolate added to it, to nuts and other added fruits too.

I experimented with an easy recipe and wanted to have a banana bread which is less denser than what you find in the US or UK, and of a much softer, spongy cake like consistency (in other words, the kind my son loves).

Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cup sugar
1 ½ cups refined flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 Egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tsp Cinnamon powder
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
20 gms, Raisins, soaked in 30 ml Rum

Method

1. Mash the bananas in a bowl.

2. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon.

3. Preheat oven to 250°F.

4. Bake in a buttered loaf pan for 25 to 30 minutes (or until a toothpick stuck into the bread comes out clean)

5. Slice and serve.

Note : Quick breads are breads that use chemicals leavening agents, rather than yeast. Yeast requires some time to rise, and also the correct temperature, time etc., whereas Baking powder don’t require all the time, hence, the name.

Posted in: Bakes,Banana,Breakfast,Dessert,Fruit