What makes banana bread so flavorful? Is it the touch of vanilla? A hint of cinnamon? Just the right balance of salt and sweet?
All of the above. But the most critical flavor in banana bread, the one that’ll make or break your loaf, is (no surprise) — banana. So if you want to make out-of-this-world banana bread, it’s important that you use the “right” bananas.
You’re standing in the produce section at your grocery store, looking at the bananas. There’re big ones and little ones. Organic bananas, and cute little bunches of mini-bananas.
Look beyond the “perfect” bananas, and see if you can find a rolling cart with reduced-price produce: bruised apples, soft lemons, wilted lettuce — and “overripe” bananas. A banana that’s way too squishy and soft for your cereal is just perfect for banana bread: the blacker the banana, the sweeter and more assertive its flavor.
If you can’t find overripe bananas, you’ll need to create your own. Buy some bananas — which in most supermarkets are typically yellowish-green, or yellow tinged with green at the stem end.
Let the bananas ripen (and overripen) at room temperature. Depending on the weather, this could take a few days, or up to a week.
The best bananas for banana bread aren't yellow; they're black. Or they're at least streaked with black/brown, with just the barest hint of green at the stem. And again, the darker the better: there’s no such thing as a too-ripe banana when you’re making banana bread.
Obviously, this is a pain if you don’t tend to plan your baking projects well ahead, and you want to make banana bread immediately. If you’re a spur-of-the-moment baker, it pays to keep a stash of ripe bananas on hand at all times — in your freezer.
Build a stash of frozen overripe bananas
How does that work? Very well! Every time you see a banana in the fruit bowl teetering between just right and Fruit Fly Central, stick it in the freezer. I have a zip-top plastic bag full-time in my freezer for just this purpose.
Frozen bananas turn dark brown or black; that’s perfectly OK. When you’re ready to bake, take out the bananas you need and let them thaw at room temperature. Or thaw them in the microwave (skin and all); my microwave takes about 3 minutes to thaw four medium bananas.
Thawed bananas are very soft and watery; again, no worries. Simply slit their peels lengthwise and squeeze the squishy dark bananas into your mixing bowl (if you bake by weight) or measuring cup. They’ll be very soft and easy to mash. Do include any liquid.
You can also simply slice off the tip and squeeze the soft banana into your bowl or cup like you're squeezing a tube of toothpaste.
Caveat emptor: You may have seen tips online for roasting under-ripe bananas in their skin for 30 minutes in a 350°F oven. This is supposed to concentrate their flavor and make them sweet. I tried it; they were indeed deep black, but they tasted like green bananas, only mushy. Don't go there.
Finally, what if you just have to make banana bread right now — your best friend is dropping by and you promised her… but you don’t have any overripe bananas on hand?
Use whatever bananas you can get. Increase the sugar in the recipe by about 15% (generally 2 to 3 tablespoons) to help with the missing sweetness; and increase the salt by about 25% to help with flavor intensity.
Now this doesn't apply to the completely green bananas you'll sometimes see at the supermarket. So if that's all you can find, just make pumpkin bread and call it a day!
Have you made our Whole-Grain Banana Bread yet? It's our 2018 Recipe of the Year,for many reasons — not the least its shower of crunchy cinnamon-sugar on top. I think I must have made this bread 40 to 50 times in the last six months, and it's a runaway hit everywhere I share it. What are you waiting for? Go buy some bananas!
Ripe bananas are not only softer and easier to mash and blend into a batter, but they are also sweeter, which is why baking recipes specifically call for ripe bananas in ingredient lists. As the bananas ripen, the fruit converts starches to sugars, making them sweeter and more flavorful.
As it sits at room temperature, starches convert to sugars, making the fruit sweeter and softer. These brown spots, often seen as a sign of spoilage, are actually a dead giveaway of peak banana bread potential. But, there is a limit. Black bananas or rotten bananas are a no-go.
More mature bananas (with brown spots or even completely brown) are absolutely PERFECT for making banana bread. They've got a great sweetness and a really soft consistency that is great for baking.
When it comes to banana quick bread, the riper the better! The bananas need to be mostly or completely brown, with a mushy, almost pudding-like texture.
You can zap firm yellow bananas to soft ripeness in just a few minutes. Here's how: Poke unpeeled bananas all over with a fork or knife. Then put them on a paper towel or plate and microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time, repeating until they're as soft as you want.
To immediately ripen bananas for use in banana breads, cakes, and muffins, you can use the oven. The texture of a baked banana may be a bit softer than that of one naturally ripened but the taste and caramelized sweetness will be amazing.
Using too much banana could make your bread heavy and damp in the center, causing it to appear undercooked and unappealing. If you have bananas leftover, you can always freeze them for later use.
If you're curious about how to keep bananas fresh for longer, you should know about how to store bananas in your refrigerator. If you place them in the refrigerator, fully ripe bananas will last 5 to 7 days.
Let it cool for 10 minutes — this helps the loaf solidify and makes it easier to remove from the pan. Remove from pan and cool another 10 minutes. Grasping the parchment paper sling, lift the loaf out of the pan and place on the cooling rack. Cool for another 10 minutes before slicing.
Mold on bananas is fuzzy white, gray, or greenish—it looks a lot like mold on bread. If a banana smells rotten or fermented or is leaking fluid, it's time to say goodbye. If the fruit inside, not just the peel, is black, that's a sign that your banana is too far gone to safely eat.
Not only do frozen bananas work for baking, but they arguably work better for baking than fresh bananas. Not only does the freezing process not affect the taste or the nutritional value of the bananas, but defrosting bananas makes them softer and therefore easier to mix into batter.
Oven Method: Put unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 300˚ until the skins turn black, 15 to 20 minutes. The flesh will be sweet and soft—and perfect for baked goods.
While black bananas are great for banana bread thanks to the moisture they add and the sweetness they bring to the baked good, there are some other things to look for in and on black bananas before adding them to your batter. If black bananas are spotted with mold, then it's time to step away!
Using too much flour makes for an extra crumbly bread.
If you're tapping your measuring cup to level out flour as you measure, or you're pushing down the piled-up powder, you'll end up using too much of it. I packed my flour for this loaf, and what I got was a crumbly cake with a dry crust all around.
Overripe bananas are higher in sugar than their green counterparts, but they also boast higher antioxidant levels. Eating overripe bananas isn't just a great way to reduce food waste. When fully ripe, these fruits are even healthier and more nutritious than their green counterparts.
Frozen bananas are a great way to use overripe bananas in banana bread. If you're like me, you rarely remember to use your overripe bananas on the day they are perfectly ripe so freezing them is a great solution. Thawed bananas are easier to mash and can also add extra moisture to the batter.
The starch content of bananas (Musa acuminata, “Cavendish”) has been reported to change from approximately 21 g/100g in unripe fruit to approximately 1 g/100g in fully ripe fruit [11]. During ripening there is a decrease in enzyme-resistant starch [12] and an increase in water-soluble pectin [13].
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What makes banana bread so flavorful? Is it the touch of vanilla? A hint of cinnamon? Just the right balance of salt and sweet?
