TapasBanana Bread
By the Tapas kitchen · Jump to the recipe
Wait until your bananas are mostly black, because the riper they are, the sweeter and moister the loaf, and a third of a cup of sour cream keeps it soft for days. Test it with a skewer near the top of the crack, where a band of raw batter tends to hide.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 5 min
- Rest
- 1 hr 15 min
- Total
- 2 hr 35 min
- Yield
- Serves 10
Ingredients
- 400 g very ripe bananas, peeled weight, about 4 medium, heavily speckled or black
- 115 g unsalted butter, 1 stick (8 tablespoons), melted, plus more for the pan
- 150 g light brown sugar, 3/4 cup, packed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 80 g sour cream, 1/3 cup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 240 g all-purpose flour, about 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons, spooned and leveled
- 25 g turbinado sugar, 2 tablespoons, for the top (optional)
The salt amounts here are for Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you have Morton kosher salt, use a little over half as much, because its grains are denser and saltier by the spoon.
Steps
- Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the lower third. Butter a 9 x 5-inch metal loaf pan and line the bottom and long sides with a strip of parchment, leaving some overhang to lift the loaf out.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl with a fork until mostly smooth, with a few small lumps left. Whisk in the melted butter, then the brown sugar, eggs, sour cream and vanilla, until the batter is uniform.
- Sprinkle the baking soda, salt and cinnamon over the batter and whisk hard for 30 seconds. Any soda that isn't spread through now ends up as bitter specks in the crumb.
- Add the flour and fold with a spatula just until no dry streaks remain. Scrape into the pan, smooth the top, and scatter over the turbinado, if using.
- Bake for 55 to 65 minutes. The top will crack down the middle and turn deep brown; if it is already dark at the 35 minute mark, lay a sheet of foil loosely over it. It is done when a skewer pushed into the center, near the top of the crack, comes out with a few moist crumbs and no wet batter, or the center reads 200 to 205°F.
- Cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then lift the loaf out by the parchment and let it cool completely, about an hour more, so the crumb sets before you slice it.
Notes
Wrapped at room temperature, it keeps 4 days and is best on day two. It freezes well whole or sliced. You can use plain whole-milk Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream. To add walnuts, fold in 1 cup, toasted and chopped, with the flour.
