Follow these three tips to making fast, delicious banana bread that’ll be the answer to your weeknight baking prayers. Get the recipe for Caramelized Banana Bread here and more banana bread recipes in our July/August issue!
1. Freeze Now, Bake Later. Making banana bread is beholden to overripe bananas, which can take almost a week to get to that black peel sweet spot. To make sure you never have to wait on your produce, keep a batch of overripe bananas in your freezer. Keep the bananas in their peel (which protects them from freezer burn and odors), and store in a resealable bag. Once you’re ready to bake, allow the bananas to defrost before peeling. The bananas should come out as a purée- freezing breaks down the cell walls and naturally produces a mash.
2. Get the Midas Touch. Dark pans can overly brown the crust of your banana bread. To counteract that, we looked for a proper light-colored pan that wouldn’t burn our banana bread. So we baked our loaves in Williams-Sonoma’s Goldtouch Nonstick Loaf Pans, available on williams-sonoma.com. The pans ensure even baking and browning on quick bread.
3. Gentle Fold, Tender Crumb. When mixing together your ingredients, the less the mixing the better. Keep a light touch when incorporating everything together, mixing only until just combined. You’ll be rewarded with a banana bread with a tender crumb that you crave from a proper quick bread.