Banana Bread

A long time ago, I promised you my banana bread recipe from Baking Illustrated. We’ve finally unpacked the cookbooks, so here it is. It’s what I would call my go-to, plain banana bread recipe (I have others with chocolate and ginger, for example).



2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
¼ cup plain lactose-free yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 Tbsp unsalted butter or margarine, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 °F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl; set aside.

Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.