Banana Walnut bread

I’ve been blogging a little too much about Baking lately. Despite my first two attempts not panning out as well as I had wanted them to, I tried baking a fourth time yesterday. When was the third time you ask? Shall I just say, I tried an ambitious flour-less cookie recipe that turned out so badly, I had to use some pretty strong room freshener to get rid of the burnt smell that refused to budge from every corner of my home, leaving my husband and visiting nephew questioning my sanity. It’s an incident that must be erased from my amateur cooking career.

So the fourth attempt at baking it was. See, that’s how I am. If I’m not good at something I’m passionate about, I’ll keep at it until I get good. And my dear foodie readers – that is exactly what happened yesterday! Two very ripe bananas in the fruit basket and a crazy itch to bake resulted in searching the internet for easy Banana Walnut bread recipes. I came across this one from All Recipes and made a few small changes to suit my tastes. I also followed some baking instructions from a recipe book I got from a Bed and Breakfast I visited a few months ago.

Taking a scientific, planned approach that is synonymous with experienced bakers truly did pay off. The Banana Walnut bread was moist, just the right amount of sweet, and tastes divine even a day later. I took half the loaf to my sister’s yesterday afternoon and my 16 month old nephew loved it! Here’s how I made the bread:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 large overripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence

Method:

• To bring out its flavor, toast walnuts lightly in a 300 degree F oven for 7-8 minutes or until they brown slightly.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for the bread. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
• In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. In a third bowl, mix together eggs, vanilla essence and the mashed banana.
• Stir the egg mixture into the sugar mixture until blended well. Do not whip. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture; stir gently just to moisten – DO NOT over mix. Mix in the walnuts just before pouring batter into loaf pan.
• Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to let it cool.

Extra tip: Place a small dish of water in the oven while baking, to prevent a thick crust from forming on top of the loaf.