I don’t know about you, but when I hear “banana bread,” I’m instantly taken back to the early days of the pandemic when everyone was stuck at home and learning how to cook and bake. Out of nowhere, banana bread became the quintessential quarantine food. It was, unsurprisingly, one of my first bakes.

Not only is banana bread easy to make, it’s also delicious and filling. And since we had some overripe bananas here at home, I thought it fitting to make banana bread once again…for old times’ sake.

You only need a few basic ingredients to nail this recipe. No need for a mixer too as you can do this all by hand.

Yield: 2 medium-sized loaves

Total time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 medium-sized overripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• 75 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 150 grams granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 205 grams flour
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 pieces 8.5-inch x 4.5-inch loaf pans

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 175°C (347°F) and butter/oil your loaf pans.
2. In a big bowl, add the mashed bananas and stir in the melted butter.
3. Add the baking soda, salt, and sugar. Stir.
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and stir.
5. Add the flour and mix until well blended. Be careful not to overmix your batter.
6. To make my banana bread more moist, I like to add at least a tablespoon of milk (you can add more if you feel your batter is too thick/dry) and give the batter a final stir.
7. Pour your batter into your loaf pans, filling them about halfway.
8. Bake for 50–55 minutes. I like to cover the pans with aluminum foil when I reach 2/3 of the baking time to prevent the tops from browning too much.
9. Once done, take the pans out of the oven and place them on the kitchen counter to cool.
10. Take off the aluminum foil covering and do the toothpick test. The toothpick should come out clean. If not, bake for a few more minutes.
11. Once cool enough, serve and enjoy!

These babies turned out packed (but not too dense) and moist. They were also not too sweet, so we got to appreciate the natural flavor of the bananas.

I like to have my banana bread plain, but my person enjoys eating his with fruit jam. He spread some guava jelly over a slice and it was yum, I’m not gonna lie. I highly suggest you try it yourself!

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