Bake the Number-One Banana Bread Recipe on the Internet (2024)

FAQs

Why are older bananas better for banana bread? ›

Ripe bananas are not only softer and easier to mash and blend into a batter, but they are also sweeter, which is why baking recipes specifically call for ripe bananas in ingredient lists.

When the center of your bread is baked through a thermometer will register between 200°F and 205°F. No part of your loaf should be below 200°F — except perhaps the very top, which may produce an unreliable reading due to the thermometer's tip being partially exposed to room-temperature air.

Your oven may not have been set to the correct temperature. You may not have used the correct pan size. You may not have followed the recipe correctly. For example, you may have added too much liquid, or you may not have added enough of some dry ingredient, and therefore your dough may have had too much moisture.

3 bananas: 2 cups chopped | 1-1/2 cups mashed. 4 bananas: 2-2/3 cups chopped | 2 cups mashed.

Mold on bananas is fuzzy white, gray, or greenish—it looks a lot like mold on bread. If a banana smells rotten or fermented or is leaking fluid, it's time to say goodbye. If the fruit inside, not just the peel, is black, that's a sign that your banana is too far gone to safely eat.

Fear not! This doesn't mean your fruit has gone to waste. In fact, overripe bananas are the best bananas for baking the most delicious and moist banana bread you've ever tasted.

If you're planning to eat your banana bread within three to four days, it can be left out at room temperature. To keep it fresh, place a paper towel in the bottom of an airtight container. Place the loaf of banana bread on top, add another paper towel, and put the lid on the container.

Let it cool for 10 minutes — this helps the loaf solidify and makes it easier to remove from the pan. Remove from pan and cool another 10 minutes. Grasping the parchment paper sling, lift the loaf out of the pan and place on the cooling rack. Cool for another 10 minutes before slicing.

Generally one teaspoon of baking powder leavens one cup of flour. In the case of recipes like banana bread which contain heavy ingredients, such as bananas and sometimes heavy grains like wheat germ or whole wheat flour, this may be increased to 1 1/2 or 2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of flour.

What happens if I add too much flour to banana bread? ›

Using too much flour makes for an extra crumbly bread.

If you're tapping your measuring cup to level out flour as you measure, or you're pushing down the piled-up powder, you'll end up using too much of it. I packed my flour for this loaf, and what I got was a crumbly cake with a dry crust all around.

Too much baking powder can cause the batter to be bitter tasting. It can also cause the batter to rise rapidly and then collapse. (i.e. The air bubbles in the batter grow too large and break causing the batter to fall.)

Mango is one of the most common substitutes for bananas in smoothies. It has a pretty mild flavor. Because it's not as juicy as most fruits, mango is great at creating a creamy texture. Use about 1 cup of frozen mango to replace 1 banana.

Use applesauce in a one-to-one ratio as a substitute for mashed bananas in baked goods. However, if the recipe calls for whole bananas, use ½ cup applesauce for every 1 banana.

We determined that for a cup of mashed bananas there are about 3 bananas needed. And for a cup of sliced bananas you need 1.5 bananas.

Overripe bananas are rich in antioxidants. When you consume them, overripe banana helps boost immunity which prevents several diseases. Not just that, they also help in preventing the cells from getting damaged.

A: Nutrient content does change slightly as fruit ripens. As a banana turns yellow, its levels of antioxidants—substances that seem to protect against cancer and heart disease—increase somewhat, so you may be missing a small nutritional benefit.

Though they lose some of the resistant starch that gave them so many advantages earlier on, they continue to provide good nutrition (and even some health benefits). “Very ripe and overripe bananas are rich in flavor and antioxidants, which can help benefit our immune systems,” says Gabriel.