Banana Bread Recipe: Create A Family Tradition

Any great banana bread starts with a good basic batter. So, if you do not have one, go out and purchase a cookbook that has all the basic recipes you need. Many also have cooking tips that can be really handy, especially if you have forgotten how to fold your eggs. You are going to start with a basic banana bread recipe. But then you will make it all your own.

There is not a whole lot of difference between basic banana bread recipes. They will all pretty much call for flour, sugar (regular or brown), eggs, butter, salt, baking soda and, you guessed it, bananas. They may differ slightly in the amounts of each ingredient. I like moist baked goods, so I will choose a variation that has greater quantities of moist ingredients, for example, a recipe that calls for more eggs.

Use the best ingredients you can, such as real butter (not margarine) and unrefined, organic sugar. Experience will teach you the proper level of ripeness for the bananas. They should be overripe, with a peel that has turned well brown.

It is a good idea to try the recipe out without any alterations first so that you are familiar with the basic flavor and the correct consistency. Then you get to have fun experimenting. Just think about what sounds good to you to add. When you have an idea, look for a recipe that includes that ingredient so you can have a guideline of how much to use.

For example, I like to add chocolate chips to whatever I can. So, I look for a quick bread recipe that calls for chocolate chips. First, make sure that the recipe is meant to make the same amount of bread as your banana bread recipe. Then you can use the same amount of chips for your bread. If the recipe you find makes half as much bread as yours, simply double the amount of chips.

Or, maybe you think it should have walnuts in addition to the chips. Not a problem. But you need to put in fewer chips to make room for the nuts. A mistake that people often make is to change the recipe so there is too great a quantity of add-ins for the amount of batter. This will change the consistency of the bread, usually to its detriment.

Now, you are getting used to the experimenting and you are thinking that walnuts are not enough; there should be pecans as well. Again, just change the amounts so that if you were using a full cup of walnuts before, use a half cup each of walnuts and pecans. Or, you can really go crazy and add almonds as well. All you have to do is change the amount to a third cup of each and you are good to go.

After you play around with your banana bread recipe a bit, you will find a variation that your family will not let you change. Pretty soon, the recipe is referred to as Emilys banana bread. It is the birth of a new family tradition.

Ben Cook teaches you how to bake banana bread at home and gives you lots of delicious banana bread recipes on his banana bread recipe website.