Classic Banana Bread

Name: Classic Banana Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup white sugar; ½ cup butter, softened; 3 very ripe bananas, mashed; 2 large eggs; 2 cups all-purpose flour; ½ tsp baking soda; ⅓ cup buttermilk or sour milk; ¼ tsp salt; 1 tsp vanilla extract; ½ cup chopped nuts, optional

A reliable, moist loaf that puts overripe bananas to good use, with a golden crust and a tender crumb.

10 MIN PREP60 MIN COOK70 MIN TOTALSERVES 10

Cook mode

A golden-brown loaf of banana bread cooling on a wire rack.

The browner and spottier your bananas, the better this banana bread will be, so it is the perfect answer to fruit that has gone past eating. The batter is a simple one-bowl mix, and the loaf keeps well for days. Out of buttermilk? Swap in 1/3 cup of regular milk plus 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder in place of the buttermilk and baking soda.

Recipe adapted from Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo: Whitney, CC BY 2.0. This adaptation is shared under the same license.

As writtenMetricUS

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup buttermilk or sour milk
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup chopped nuts, optional

Steps

Heat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan.
Put the sugar, butter, mashed bananas, eggs, flour, baking soda, buttermilk, salt and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat well. Stir in the nuts if you are using them.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake on the middle rack for 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the loaf cool before slicing.