banana bread

In case your wondering that I bake every day (or even more than a couple of times each day), I don't. I'd like to though... I actually find it quite relaxing baking and just concentrating on what's in the oven and not having to think about anything else. And well, when the oven time is up, there's usually the treat to devour which makes baking time even better. At the moment, I've been back to baking roughly once a week although over the Christmas break, I was close to baking two things every day. (There's assorted baked pieces lying around the house which I'll probably have to chuck out soon because I did go a little over board but well, it was Christmas!)

Here's a banana bread recipe from Jill Dupleix's 'Simply Food'. I think the first time I heard about Jill Dupleix was reading Sarah's blog, which by the way is one of my favourite blogs to read. Anyway, Jill Duplex is known for her simple, no-fuss yet irresistable recipes. This banana bread recipe is quite a treat.

Ingredients: 250g plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 3 ripe bananas (approx. 450g), 125g melted butter, 150g caster sugar, 2 large eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Optional - 50g chopped walnuts.

Lightly butter a 25x10cm loaf tin. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Mash the bananas to a puree. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, until smooth and pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until just combined. Fold in the mashed bananas, vanilla and walnuts if using, then lightly fold in the flour. Spoon the mixture in the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour (covering the top with foil if it starts to brown to quickly). Allow to cool for 20 min before turning out.

Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into thick slices.

I like having banana bread for breakfast or as a late afternoon snack. They're great toasted in the toaster (try not to kill yourself trying to wedge the piece out with a knife which is what I tend to do and get told off for every single time) and most definitely luscious when served with a generous spread of butter. The only thing I'd say lacking about this recipe is that the banana bread didn't brown inside as much as other banana bread recipes do. I definitely used ripe bananas and whilst the outside browned quite nicely, the inside looked more like a butter pound cake. And when you compare it to the picture that's in the recipe, they actually look nothing alike on the inside. Can anyone shed any light on why banana bread browns usually and not in this recipe?