The fool-proof banana bread recipe

A sure-fire way to prevent food waste when it comes to bananas is the legendary banana bread. A tried and tested delicious snack and a productive way to pass the time during the lockdown.

This recipe is from Bitter + Soet: 'n Erfenisboek by Niël Stemmet, published by Human & Rousseau, an imprint of NB Publishers.

I know vegans will come for me, and I apologise, but this recipe is unfortunately not vegan-friendly. I promise to look into vegan-friendly recipes in the future and share them with you.

I have used this recipe só many times the pages are starting to reflect it. To me, it's a testament to how delicious and trustworthy it is. And if you don't believe me, ask anyone who has tasted it. It's a winner!

The batter is enough for a medium-sized bread pan, and if you want to double is, like I did, you can also make cute banana bread muffins. Just pop these in the freezer and reheat in the oven when you have guests. Adulting nailed.

I bought this silicone pan for R5 at a hospice shop and it works perfectly.

So let's get to it:

Fool-proof banana bread recipe (single batch)

Ingredients:

1½ cups of cake wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ fine cinnamon

½ tablespoon salt

3 medium-sized bananas, very ripe

½ cup melted butter

½ cup brown sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

½ cup crushed pecan nuts (or any nuts of your choosing)

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C.

• Butter a pan (of about 20 cm x 4 cm x 7cm).

• Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Put aside.

• Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl. Add the melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla and mix well.

• Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl a spoon at a time and stir gently until the batter is smooth.

• You can add crushed nuts to the batter, but I prefer you put it all on top of the batter in the bread pan. This way the nuts get roasted, and it adds a nice flavour to your banana bread. If you want to put nuts in the batter as well as on top, go for it! It's your banana bread.

• Pour your batter into your bread pan and smooth the top. Add nuts if you wish. I had to use sunflower seeds because we were out of nuts. Any nuts or seeds will work.

• Bake in the middle of your oven for one hour. If the bread is browning too much at the top, you can put a sheet of foil over it after it's been in the oven for at least 30 mins.

• Test after one hour to make sure the inside isn't still runny. It should be moist but not under-baked. Bake it a bit longer if necessary.

• Remove the pan from the oven and gently take the bread out of the pan. It needs to cool off on a cooling rack, and if left in the pan, the bread will "sweat".

• After the bread has cooled down, enjoy it with the condiments of your choice. I recommend salted butter and maybe a bit of jam.

There is no reason to throw very ripe bananas away. They are perfect for making banana bread. If you don't enjoy banana bread yourself, it makes a wonderful gift for friends, family, and even that neighbour who still gives you the stink eye after you accidently/momentarily parked on their lawn. They won't be able to resist.