banana coffee bread
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I’ve heard often enough that the easiest way to learn how to bake is to start with a banana bread. While the ubiquitous and comfortably familiar banana bread is a cinch to make, there’s actually more to baking a banana bread than meets the eye. If you’re just starting out on your Baking with the Banana journey, here are three banana basics to live by that spell the difference between a good banana bread and a great banana bread:

Bananas must be exceedingly ripe. I can’t stress this enough. Bananas exude their bountiful flavor with force when they are just on the edge of becoming over ripe. I hang my bananas over the kitchen counter and let them ripen naturally in the hot, humid weather. I know they’ve reached the brink of over ripeness when they simply fall on the counter. Bananas are ripe and ready for baking when the skin is pockmarked with dozens of brown-black dots and streaked with brown. And there’s no mistaking the lush aroma and super soft texture.

Mash the bananas; do not puree them. The soft flesh of this tropical fruit must yield to the tenderest nudge of a fork. You want texture so do not get carried away and mash the bananas to a liquefied mush. Little bits and chunks of bananas are the way to go.

Mix the banana batter with the flour batter only until just moistened. Once there are no longer any visible sprinkles of flour, it’s done. To be on the safe side: gently mix the two batters together by hand. Ditto with the walnuts: all that’s needed is a few stirs, that’s it. Make sure you stir all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

You’re on your way to bananaliciousness!

Banana Coffee Bread
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Banana Coffee Bread

Recipe by Two Queens BakeDifficulty: Easy
Prep time

15

minutes
Baking Time

55

minutes

Ingredients

  • 240g sugar

  • 100g vegetable oil

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • 400g all purpose flour

  • 2 tsp baking powder

  • ½ tsp salt

  • ¼ tsp baking soda

  • 3 medium overripe bananas, not too mashed

  • ½ cup/113g brewed coffee, warm or cold

  • 154g buttermilk

  • 100g chopped walnuts

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F. Position oven rack in the middle rung. Lightly just the bottom of a 9×5-inch loaf pan. No need to line with parchment.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment on low-medium speed, beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer…or do it all by hand 😊
  • Add the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda. Stir on low speed just to moisten the flour.
  • Combine bananas, coffee and buttermilk in a separate bowl and stir on low speed for minute into the batter. Manually fold in the nuts.
  • Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Remove from the loaf pan after 10 minutes. Cool completely on cooling tray.

Recipe Video

Notes