Tasty Banana Bread
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large, overripe bananas, mashed
2 1/4 cups flour (preferably pastry flour)
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
3/4 cups creme fraiche
1 cup toasted walnuts (optional)
The best way to start the day is with a great place to spread your cream cheese.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Combine the sugar and the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy and doubled in volume.
With the motor still running, slowly add the oil and beat until thoroughly combined.
Replace the whisk attachment with the paddle attachment and add in the vanilla and bananas. Stir to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and clove.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet in 3 parts, stirring each addition just until wet. A lumpy batter is generally a good batter when it comes to muffins & quickbreads.
Stir in the creme fraiche until evenly distributed. Stir in the walnuts if using.
Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool on a rack. Serve immediately or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature.
Additional Notes
Great banana bread is as much about using great ingredients as it is about using proper method. Most importantly, you need to start with ripe bananas. The blacker the better. Then you need to add something creamy to keep it moist. Creme fraiche is ideal as it lends richness without adding too much acidity (my personal issue with sour cream). However, the real key to a nice light loaf is the initial emulsification of the oil in the eggs and sugar. You’ll notice that the eggs and the sugar will increase 2-3 times in volume as you beat them, and this only means you’ll end up with better results.
