Recipe: Banana bread (Marcus Wareing)

When you have a whole load of bananas in the house, what do you do? Bake banana bread, of course :) This time, we're using Marcus Wareing's banana bread recipe - one of the rare ones which actually uses bread flour, unlike many other recipe which uses self raising or plain flour and calls it banana bread just because it's shaped like a loaf.

Banana bread with Bordier butter

A very easy recipe and a fun bake which you can do with your kids. This recipe uses overripe bananas for the best flavour and moistness as well as some walnuts for added texture. With most cake mixtures the skewer should come out clean, but according to Marcus Wareing, a perfectly cooked banana bread will have some moist mixture clinging to it.

The result - a dense, fragrant banana bread which is not too sweet ......just nice :).

When there's banana bread as good as this, we go all the way and break out the Bordier butter... a thin sliver topped on each slice of banana bread before devouring. So good!

Banana Bread
Recipe adapted from Marcus Wareing
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 55 minutes
Makes 10-12 slices

Ingredients
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
300g strong white bread flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine salt
115g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature plus extra for greasing
100g caster sugar
4 overripe bananas (550g in weight), peeled and mashed
75g walnuts, roughly chopped



1. Preheat oven to 200°C (no fan).

2. Brush a 1 kg loaf tin with butter and line the bottom with non-stick baking parchment.

3. Beat the eggs in a measuring jug with the vanilla extract. Sift the flour into a bowl with the baking powder and salt.

4. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, using the paddle attachment of your mixer on high speed. With the machine on low speed, slowly pour in the eggs, beating until they are completely incorporated (don't worry if the mix looks split at this point - it will come together later). Turn the machine off.

5. Mix in the mashed banana using a spatula, then fold in the sifted dry ingredients and the walnuts, one-third at a time, just until the ingredients come together. Pour into the loaf tin and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the middle of the oven for 55 minutes until firm to the touch but still a little moist in the centre.

Folding in the dry ingredients

6. Cool in the tin for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and peel off the parchment. Leave until cold before slicing.

I am submitting this to Cook-Your-Books #10 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours .

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