MUM'S BANANA BREAD

When I was a young girl, my Mum would bake a lot. Back then you didn't have such an array of ready made treats just waiting to be snapped up at the supermarket. I am so glad about this as I discovered my love of baking through my Mum and my Nan. 

My Mum had an index box which was crammed full of hand written recipes. The recipes had come from her Mum, Mother in law, Family Circle, basically any decent recipe was written down and filed. There would be favourites which would be used again and again and some which never saw the light of day! My Mum decided to get rid of her box of recipes as she had started to bake less and less as the years went by, but she saved those which had become family favourites (ie, those that I pestered her to make, even when I had left home!).

As a child I was a very fussy eater, so getting fruit and vegetables into me was a daily chore for my Mum. I detested most fruits, especially bananas (and to this day I cannot stand them!), but Mum's banana bread never tasted of the bananas, it just tasted yummy! She must have breathed a sigh of relief as I asked for a slice of this delicious bread!

The recipe is very simple and not very high on a banana taste. There is a hint there so if you like your banana bread to taste very much of bananas, add another banana or 2 into the mix!

Mmm, doesn't that look inviting??

The measurements for the recipe are in American cups. I come from a joint background of both American and English so have always had a set of baking cups for such recipes. These are easy to obtain or you can look up the equivalents using Google.

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour 

2 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter/marg/baking spread

2 eggs

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (approx 2-3 bananas)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 1 cup raisins (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 350'c or 180'f.  Well grease or use cake release spray in your loaf pan. The loaf pan I have used is 1 1/2 litre.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar (I did this the old fashioned way with a fork, just as my Mum used to do)

Light and fluffy.

Add eggs once creamed and lightly beat them in.

Add dry ingredients and banana alternately, ending with dry ingredients. Stir in any walnuts or raisins you may be adding.

Pour into your pan and smooth over the top. 

The original recipe states to bake the bread for 1hr 10min, however, that has resulted in my bread being over cooked and a little burnt. I suggest checking your bread after 40 minutes and then 5 minute increments until it is done. The bread is done once the sides pull away from the pan and the top is golden brown. I do use a toothpick to check that it is fully cooked. In my oven the bread takes around 45 minutes to cook.

Well risen, golden brown and sides have pulled away from the pan. (Please excuse the state of my pan, it has been used many many times!)

Fresh out of the oven is lovely or when it has completely cooled. My Mum always used to spread some butter onto the bread once it was sliced and I love it this way, but it is equally as tasty without!

 Delicious!

This is a perfect recipe for anybody to have a go at. It is simple, easy, few ingredients and steps. Happy baking!