Banana Walnut Bread Recipe

Banana is one of my daughters favorite fruits, so nutritious and convenient. It is a great ingredient to add in bread, smoothies or baked goods. This bananas walnuts bread has a sweet crispy crust, I like a dense feel of this bread, if you like a lighter and softer bread, use 1.5 cups of flour instead of 1.75 cups. I used 1.5 cups for cupcakes size banana bread, if you like to try that, cut the cook time in half to 30 minutes, the smaller the bread, the faster it cooked. To make the crust crispy, a cast iron pan is essential, increase the temperature to 375F at the last 5 minutes, will make the crust even more crispy. Rest 10 minutes before serving, the crispy crust only stay for a few hours, overnight baked good never taste as good as it fresh out of the oven.

Banana Walnut Bread Recipe

Ingredients:
3 Ripe Bananas
6 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1.25 teaspoons Baking Powder
1.75 cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Walnuts (Optional. Toasted, coarsely chopped)

Cookware:
Lodge Cast Iron Loaf Pan

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mashed ripe bananas in a large bowl. Add vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract, mix well.
3. In another bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder together. (Pic 1)
4. Add vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract into mashed bananas, whisk until well combined. (Pic 2 -3)
5. Add brown sugar into wet mix, stir to dissolve sugar. (Pic 4 – 5)
6. Divide flour mix into 3 batches, add 1 batch into the wet ingredients, fold until barely mix . Repeat for the remaining 2 batches, mix in walnuts at the end. (Tips: Do not over mix, it will result in rubbery, hard and dense texture.) (Pic 6 – 8)
7. Pour batter into cast iron loaf pan, bake for 1 hour or until cooked. Remove from oven and cool loaf pan on a metal rack for 10 minutes, use a knife along the edge to separate bread. Wear oven mitts, flip pan upside down and give it a shake, bread will fall out and can be cut and served. (Insert toothpick in the center, if it come out clean it is done.) (Pic 9)

Pic 1 DSC_0068-002