Grandma's Banana Bread

When I was growing up my mother would use up the old, wrinkly bananas to make her mother’s recipe for Banana Bread.  Over the years this became one of my favourite recipes and still reminds me of my childhood and because it is super easy I make it whenever we have bananas past their good looking stage.

Very often the skin turns brown but inside the actual banana is fine but if my children saw the brown outside they would not eat the ripe fruit.  So it traditionally became a way to use the bananas and not throw them out.  To the point that sometime friends would call in for coffee and bring me their over ripe bananas and ask me to make a Banana Bread for them.

I make the recipe almost exactly as my mother and her mother before her used to make it.  The only small change I make is to vary whether I add chopped walnuts, raisins or chopped dates for a special touch.

To make this recipe work you have to use an American cup measurement set and not weigh the ingredients.   In the USA we measure all flour, sugar, butter and liquid ingredients etc in cup measurements and although a cup = 8oz it does not work if you weigh the dry ingredients.

So for a 2lb loaf of Banana Bread you need:-

3 ripe bananas (as soft and brown as possible)

1 egg

2/3c sugar

2 cups Self Raising Flour

You can add up to ½ cup chopped walnuts, raisins or chopped dates.

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C/Gas 3

Grease and flour a 2lb loaf tin or use a loaf liner.

In a large bowl put the peeled bananas (the skin or peel can go directly on the compost heap) and mash with a fork until almost liquid.

Add 1 egg and beat with the fork

Add 2/3 cup of sugar

If using this is the time to add the walnuts etc.

Mix in one cup of the flour and continue to mix well.  Then add the other cup of flour until all the flour is well incorporated.

Pour all the mixture into the prepared baking tin and place in the middle of the oven for 1 hour.  Let cool completely if you can before slicing and serving with butter and a cup of coffee.  My favourite Saturday morning breakfast.