Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks, plus more for pan
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 slightly heaped cups (about 18 ounces or 510 grams) mashed banana, from 4 extra-large or 5 medium-large bananas
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. fine sea or table salt
1 heaped tbsp. ground cinnamon
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg (optional)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. raw or turbinado sugar (on top)
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Directions: |
Directions:You’re going to need to bake this for an hour, during which it will get quite dark on top but it will not taste burnt. The top is as crunchy as a pretzel, the inside is plush and perfectly-crumbed. Very key here is the size of your loaf pan because this will fill out every speck of it before it is done. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 6-cup (8 x 4 inches on bottom and 9×5-inch on top) loaf pan or coat it with a nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Melt butter in a large bowl and whisk in brown sugar until smooth, then stir in mashed banana. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Sprinkle the surface of the batter evenly with salt, cinnamon, nutmeg (if using), baking soda, and baking powder, and whisk until the ingredients are fully dispersed in the batter, and then whisk 10 more times around the bowl because it’s better to be overly cautious than to end up with unmixed pockets. Add flour and stir until combined. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan. It should come to just over 1/2-inch from the top rim. Sprinkle the top of the batter with the raw sugar; it will seem like a lot but will bake up beautifully. Bake banana bread for 55 to 65 minutes. It is done when a toothpick or skewer inserted into the bread is batter-free — be sure to check the upper third as well, near the rim of the pan; that’s where I’d find the unbaked pockets of batter hanging out. The bread will get very dark but will not taste burnt. Let cool in pan. This banana bread is good on the first day but exceptional on the second and third, if you can bear to wait. |
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