Brett's banana bread (BBB) is a personal favorite. We spent the morning baking two loaves - one for a friend and one for us. To give proper credit where it's due, the recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated.
The process of making banana bread doesn't lend itself to the most appetizing of photos. Luckily (and more often than not), the finished product comes out beautifully!
Ingredients:
+ 1 3/4 c flour
+ 1 t baking soda
+ 1/2 t salt
+ 5 ripe bananas, peeled
+ 8 T butter, melted and cooled
+ 2 large eggs
+ 3/4 packed light brown sugar
+ 1 t vanilla extract
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350. Spray 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together.
2. Place 5 bananas in separate bowl, cover, and microwave until bananas are soft and have released liquid about 5 minutes. (We don't have a microwave, so we freeze our bananas and let them thaw for a few hours.) Transfer bananas to fine-mesh strainer over medium bowl and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. This should make 1/2-3/4 c liquid.
3. Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/4 c, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas, and mash with potato masher until mostly smooth. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.
4. Pour banana mixture into dry ingredients and stir until just combined, with some streaks of flour remaining. Scrape batter into pan.
5. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 55-75 minutes. Let loaf cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn onto wire rack and let cool for 1 hour before serving.
umm, nuts?
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