Banana Bread Victory

I have used to same recipe for Banana Bread since I was about 12., and when I take the time to do it right it comes out light and fluffy each time. Since I was home all day, I had the time.
Thought I'd share my secrets, in case you end up needing a little num num and happen to have 3  ripe bananas.
It is from this cookbook, C'est si bon! published by the Young Women's Christian Organization of Baton Rouge, first printed in 1969.

You should get yourself one, if you are interested in southern cooking.

I would take a picture of the page, but as I said, I have been using it since 1969, and this is my favorite recipe in the book.. so it has a bit of batter damage. 😳

Here is the original from a Mrs. Richard L. Merritt Jr (pg. 223)

	Banana Bread
1 1/4 cups sugar		3 mashed bananas
1/2 cup butter		2 cups sifted flour
2 well beaten eggs		1 teaspoon baking soda
	1/2 cup nuts

Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and bananas. Sift flour and soda and add. Beat well.

Fold in the nuts, pour into well greased loaf pan or small ring. Bake for 45 minutes at 375*

These instructions assumes the reader had a Home Economics Class. I did not. Luckily, I had a Granny, who liked to bake and sometimes taught me a thing or two, then there was just trial and error. So here are my improvements with a little instruction.

	Banana Bread
1/2 cup softened butter		1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar		2 cups sifted flour
3/4 cup white sugar		1 teaspoon baking soda
2 well beaten eggs		1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 mashed bananas		a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375* prepare a well greased loaf pan by coating the sides well with butter, (or spray it)

Place butter in a large bowl, if it is not room temperature you can place it in your warming oven for a moment, but don't melt it. Baking is chemistry and these things matter. Add the sugars, and cream the butter and sugar.

Here is a point of instruction, to "cream" butter and sugar together means they become one, and close to the texture of the butter, rather than wet sugar. Think of it as emulsified rather than mixed. Use a medium high setting to cream the butter and sugar together, until it becomes the texture of rather heavy butter.

The picture on the left is mixed sugar and butter, and the picture on the right is creamed.

Next,  move the creamed butter and sugar to the side with a spatula and add your egg.  

STOP don't mix the egg in yet!  Notice the instructions say a "well beaten egg." The egg has to be beaten first and then mixed in.  By adding the egg to one side of the bowl, you can beat the egg in the same bowl, no muss no fuss. 
Beat the egg until it is lighter in color, has bubbles, and has no white  blobs left.  See picture on right.

THEN Beat egg into the batter on high until the batter is much lighter than before, almost the consistency of icing.  See picture on left. Next add "mashed banana" into the batter. I am not a fan of too many bowls.  I break them into pieces, and mash them on top of the batter, and then mix them in. The batter will become quite moist, and that's ok. 
Add the vanilla. You will be glad you did, it's that something that's missing when it isn't there. I have a friend who adds a tablespoon of Banana Liqueur. If you have try it.  Now the dry ingredients. For this, you are going to need a separate bowl. Put all the dry ingredients into the bowl. Take a fork, and stir it well. Maybe you have had the misfortune of a nice little bite of baking soda in your banana bread. NOT GOOD!  Don't forget the pinch of salt, you will miss it if it is not there.  No need to sift, just use a regular kitchen strainer to tap the dry mixture through and mix well. The batter is about the same consistency as cake batter, maybe a bit thicker, but if it is much thicker, you have done something wrong, but dense banana bread is better than no banana bread!  Pour into your prepared loaf pan, and in about 45 to 50 minutes, it's done when the middle feels solid, but springy. I usually turn it half way, but I don't know if that matters, if you have an oven that cooks evenly.  I loosen the edges when it is hot, give it a few minutes and turn it out onto a cutting board, because you are going to want to be sure it's not spoiled, before you serve it to anyone. The end piece is the best!!