When life gives you really ripe bananas, you either get fruit flies or make banana bread. I am no fan of fruit flies, but I sure do like me some banana bread. So I went to the cookbooks and pulled out one of my favorites. I had a feeling the recipe for "Flour's Famous Banana Bread" wasn't going to be disappointing. Unless of course it was famous for being disappointing. But Bobby Flay already tried testing Joanne Chang's street cred, and he lost, so I wasn't going to go down that same path. My bananas had a promising game plan. A bright future. They can gracefully, wittily exit the room with impeccable timing, and most importantly, on a high note.
Flour's recipe did not disappoint. The banana bread came out fantastic.
We could barely wait for it to cool. It made the whole apartment smell good.
A perfect early morning or late afternoon snack.
And when it's gone, you are left wanting more. That, my friends, is Showmanship. Goodnight everybody!
FLOUR’S FAMOUS BANANA BREAD
(Adapted from Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe, recipe also posted here on Food Network)
INGREDIENTS
1 ⅔ cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (230 grams) sugar
2 eggs
½ cup (100 grams) canola oil
3 ½ medium bananas, very ripe, mashed (about 340 grams)
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (75 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
DIRECTIONS
Set oven to 325 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In your stand-up mixer bowl, whip eggs for a few minutes on medium speed until they look like they have about doubled in volume. Gradually add sugar and continue whipping a couple more minutes until volume increases a bit more and the mixture is light, fluffy, and a pale yellow color.
Turn the speed down to low, slowly drizzle in oil giving your fluffy egg mixture adequate time to take it all in. Add your mashed bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla. Mix until just combined.
Gently fold in dry ingredients and nuts.
Pour prepared batter into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 1 to 1 ¼ hours.
Let cool on wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Loosen from pan with a pairing knife and shimmy it on out to finish cooling. (If you can wait that long.)
It can be stored tightly wrapped in plastic at room temp for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze it and make it last up to 2 weeks. Just take it out of the freezer the night before to give it time to thaw.