Strawberry banana bread
As I’ve mentioned a few times, due to all my visitors and general traveling around, I’ve actually completed a woefully small amount of new baking endeavours in the past couple of months. I keep revisiting old baking and cooking favourites instead of trying out new recipes. However, I’d been meaning to tackle a new banana bread recipe for a while since I had some rotting bananas that I’d put in my freezer ages ago. (If you ever have rotten bananas – never throw them away and always put them in your freezer to defrost and use in banana bread!)
The addition of strawberries to the batter intrigued me and of course browning the butter at the start sounded like a fantastic way to begin any recipe. One cautionary note from me would be to try to potentially use a bit larger loaf pan than your standard size if you can. I find with most quickbreads that the edges can get too browned while you are waiting for the centre to finish baking. Often the ends will be done before the middle. If you see that this is happening, make sure to cover the loaf with foil about half way through the baking time. You could always turn these into banana bread bars as well and bake in a traditional brownie pan or something too. Also, feel free to add more strawberries than the recipe calls for. I used the amount listed in the recipe and actually felt I could have used more in there.
Strawberry banana bread (adapted from Call Me Fudge)
Ingredients
6 Tbsp. butter (about 85 grams)
2 c. flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. buttermilk (I just had milk so it’s fine to only use that)
3 medium overripe bananas, mashed (if yours are frozen let them defrost in a bowl for a while and drain any excess liquid from them before mashing)
1/2 c. diced strawberries, plus a couple sliced for the top
First, brown the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, watching carefully as always to ensure that it doesn’t burn. When it starts to smell nutty, remove from the heat and let it cool.
Meanwhile, mash the bananas up in a bowl and add the eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk or milk to the bowl, mixing thoroughly. Add in the browned butter and mix till combined. Then add in the sugar and all dry ingredients except the flour. Finally, fold in the flour and mix gently until just combined. Stir in the strawberries last of all.
Grease and flour a loaf pan, and pour in the batter. Top with lovely little strawberry slices for decoration. Bake it at 180 C / 350 F for 50-65 minutes – will definitely vary based on the size of your loaf pan. As mentioned above, if it’s getting quite brown on top but a knife in the centre still isn’t coming out clean, cover it with foil and keep baking it. When it’s done, a knife in the centre should come out entirely clean.
Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning it out onto a plate or foil to cool completely. You can store it in the fridge for several days and then warm it in a microwave or toaster oven – of course it tastes best warm the day you make it.
Mashing up that banana
Adding in the browned butter and brown sugar
And adding in the dry ingredients
Add in the cut up strawberries last
And sprinkle remaining sliced strawberries on the top of the loaf before putting in the oven
Golden brown finished product
This was a delicious banana bread and I loved the addition of strawberries, but if I made it again I would add even more strawberries and also use a bigger loaf pan so the bread wouldn’t be quite as dense in the middle, as I found the edges got a bit dry since it had to stay in the oven for the centre to cook fully. I think the addition of any fruit to a banana bread is a great idea, though – you could try it with any fresh berries in season or potentially even frozen berries, although they do tend to turn batters red or blue colours. This is really quite easy to make though and would be great to bring to your next casual brunch potluck party! (or…to just bake for yourself.)
One year ago: quinoa pizza balls and everything birthday cookies
merrifood 