Banana Bread Recipe: Create Your Own

The first thing you want to do when you are ready to start baking banana bread is to look for a basic recipe. It is a good idea to purchase an introductory cookbook, if you do not already have one. Find one that has simple, no frills recipes, as well as instructions on how to simple things properly, such as folding eggs. You are going to start with a basic recipe. But then you are going to add your own flair to it and make it your unique banana bread recipe.

There is not a whole lot of difference between basic banana bread recipes. They will all pretty much call for flour, sugar (regular or brown), eggs, butter, salt, baking soda and, you guessed it, bananas. They may differ slightly in the amounts of each ingredient. I like moist baked goods, so I will choose a variation that has greater quantities of moist ingredients, for example, a recipe that calls for more eggs.

You should also use the best quality ingredients you can find. Use only organic, unrefined sugar and actual butter rather than margarine. The right ripeness of bananas is key, and this can take a little experience to determine. But you will want bananas that are overripe for eating, with very brown peels.

It is a good idea to try the recipe out without any alterations first so that you are familiar with the basic flavor and the correct consistency. Then you get to have fun experimenting. Just think about what sounds good to you to add. When you have an idea, look for a recipe that includes that ingredient so you can have a guideline of how much to use.

I like chocolate chips in my quick breads, and think they are a great way to add spark to otherwise ordinary banana bread. I look for a bread recipe that calls for chocolate chips and then use that same amount in my banana bread. Be sure that the recipes you are comparing are meant to make the same amount of bread so that your amounts are not off.

You might be thinking that chocolate chips sound great, but you need to have walnuts with those chips. Sounds good to me! But you will need to put in a little less of the chips to accommodate the nuts you are adding. A mistake that many people make is to change the recipe so there is no longer the same proportion of add-ins to batter. This will alter the consistency of your bread, and often not to your liking.

But you might be thinking that, while walnuts are good in banana bread, so are pecans. I like the sound of that, too. So you just need to adjust the recipe again. If you were using one cup of walnuts, now try a half cup of walnuts and a half cup of pecans. Or really experiment and try a third cup each of almonds, pecans and walnuts.

You will probably find that after a bit of experimenting, you hit on a recipe that your friends and family will not let you change. The next thing you know, they are asking for Sallys banana bread recipe. And you have created your own family tradition.

Ben Cook teaches you how to bake banana bread in your home kitchen and gives you lots of tasty banana bread recipes like this healthy banana bread recipe on his website.