My boyfriend Walt loves banana bread. He also swears by his mother’s recipe for it (as he does for most things food related). Being the incredible girlfriend that I am, I secretly emailed his mother for the recipe in order to surprise him. She happily obliged.
I heard the best way to make banana bread is to rot the bananas for 10 days, so I threw them in the refrigerator to let them turn black and gooey. They were disgusting! I had to make Walt put them into the bowl so that I didn’t lose my lunch. They were perfectly sweet for the batter, though, and made the bread nice and moist. The pantry ingredients are all items I had on hand, but apparently there are plenty of substitutions you can make in case you run out. You can use sour cream, buttermilk or yogurt, so long as you have a little acidity to react with the baking soda. I used sour cream this time around, and it worked like a charm. When I pulled the bread from the oven, it was moist and the flavors were complex. I served it with butter and cream cheese on the side, and everyone scarfed it down immediately. Delicious. I don't think I'll be trying out any other recipes for this any time soon (and I don't think that Walt would let me)!
And just in case you were wondering about the name, in the email to me Mrs. Tina said if this banana bread was my claim to fame, not to call it something like Big Mamma’s Banana Bread. That being said, it was just too good of a title to resist. Sorry, Mrs. T!
BANANA BREAD
Source: Tina Thompson, via House Beautiful, November 1979
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup (one stick) melted butter or margarine
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 small VERY RIPE bananas
- 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream, buttermilk or plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Add sugar, melted margarine and eggs into large bowl and stir until mixed. Next, add flour, baking soda and salt and continue until blended. Add bananas, sour cream/buttermilk/OR yogurt, vanilla and nuts and stir until well combined.
Pour into greased loaf pan and cook for one hour.