Feb 1, 2011

Mom's Banana Bread

This exceptionally moist quick bread is based on a recipe from Judy Mims, the mother of SAVEUR's assistant kitchen director, Ben Mims. Ben was inspired to revisit his mom's recipe after reading Dan Koeppel's fascinating story about the history and fate of bananas, (May 2010).

Credit: Todd Coleman

Butter, for greasing pan

1�cup flour, plus more for pan

3⁄4�tsp. baking soda

1⁄4�tsp. kosher salt

1�cup sugar

1⁄2�cup canola oil

1⁄3�cup buttermilk

1�tsp. vanilla

1�egg plus 1 egg yolk

2⁄3�cup chopped pecans

3�very ripe bananas, mashed

1. Heat oven to 350�. Grease a 9" x 5" x  2 3⁄4" loaf pan with butter and dust with flour; set pan aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

3. Whisk together sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk in a medium bowl until smooth. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Add pecans and mashed bananas and whisk gently to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean, 60–65 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

SERVES 6 – 8

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #129

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Ratings & Reviews (16)

by gayleeanthony on 2010-04-26

Mom's Banana Bread was so yummydelicious that it drove my husband right out of his man-cave to discover what smelled so good! This tried and true recipe was moist and flavorful with a beautiful golden crust. Simply perfect.

by thealizares on 2010-05-03

Wonderful, very moist bread! and very very easy to make.

by ZENBAKER on 2010-07-22

I've made this bread twice and thrown it away both times. The bread is VERY moist and even after 70 min was under-cooked in both texture and flavor. Eliminating the buttermilk might resolve the issue.

by PRAGMATICEPICUREAN on 2010-09-29

Banana Bread Emerges from Chaos, Earns Top Prize

I wanted to make this recipe but I ended up making something quite different due to various substitutions. Nonetheless it turned out great and will become the standard reference for great banana bread in our house.

http://www.pragmaticepicurean.com/2010/09/28/banana-bread-emerges-from-chaos-earns-top-prize/

by FIELPEACE on 2010-09-30

Dan and Dan's Mom, Thank you for sharing your recipe. It is the first banana bread I'm not embarrassed to share. It is not too dry and is moist. I got many comments about how good it was. This is my go-to recipe for banana bread. The only changes I made were adding one teaspoon of artificial banana extract for flavor and I used a metal multiple mini loaf tray. Many Thanks!

by FIELPEACE on 2010-09-30

Dan and Dan's Mom, Thank you for sharing your recipe. It is the first banana bread I'm not embarrassed to share. It is not too dry and is moist. I got many comments about how good it was. This is my go-to recipe for banana bread. The only changes I made was adding one teaspoon of artificial banana extract for flavor and I used a metal multiple mini loaf tray. Many Thanks!

by DENISEERLANGER on 2010-10-25

Best banana bread I'd ever had, let alone made! I consider myself a novice cook, but I am not a baker so everyone was surprised how delicious it was. Instead of mashing the bananas, I pureed them very well in the blender. This gave it an exceptional consistancy and made it lighter than any other banana bread i'd had.

by CHIPDUCOTE on 2011-02-03

I added fresh blueberries, and a little sugar on top before baking. Good recipe!

by LinaTruong on 2011-04-23

This is an excellent recipe and I highly recommend it! The banana bread had a nice top crust and the inside was extremely moist.

by LinaTruong on 2011-04-23

This is an excellent recipe and I highly recommend it! The banana bread had a nice top crust and the inside was extremely moist.

by TUMINOMELISSA on 2011-09-21

Great recipe! I tweaked it a bit though...I added cinnamon, cloves, and all spice. I used whole wheat flour and 2/3 cup sugar instead of 1 cup. Turned out amazing. I'm definitely keeping this recipe! :) Thank you Saveur.

by LELLIE on 2011-11-08

This is a delicious. Can change pecans to walnuts. I also have made this with half brown, half white sugar. Sometimes I put in chocolate chips. Yum!

by mosheh18 on 2011-12-07

I tweaked this recipe by doubling the quantities (so I could make a banana loaf and then about 9-12 muffins): by using 1 cup %70 whole-wheat flour, and 1 cup bran flour. instead of 2 cups of brown sugar I used only one, and then added 1 cup of Date-Honey "Silan", I also substituted chocolate chips for 4 chopped Madjule Dates (removing the outer skin as much as possible), 1/3 cup hand crushed walnuts, and instead of 2/3 cup buttermilk I used 2/3 cup sugar-free Alpro soy-milk. I found the batter a little runny, and added about another 1/2 cup of whole-wheat flour until I found the texture was right. Baked at 175 Celsius, for about 30 mins for loaf, 20 mins for muffins.

by ANYLOGIC on 2011-12-11

Yields the best banana bread! I half the sugar amount, otherwise, spot-on!

by rnelson on 2012-05-15

Have made UMPTEEN times, and a huge hit every time.

by BLACKBERRY on 2012-10-16

This is my new favourite banana bread recipe - it's perfect in terms of flavour, texture, moisture - everything a banana bread should be. I also reduced the sugar by half (I don't like it too sweet), but I think the vanilla is what really gives it that lovely flavour. The bananas I used were on the smallish side, and VERY ripe, and I had no issues with cooking time or too much moisture (in fact the loaf was cooked about 5 minutes before the 60min. mark). Unlikely to try a new banana loaf recipe after finding this gem!

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