Ultimate Banana Bread

Having made lots of banana bread over the years i'm always on the hunt for a version that has more banana flavor than butter and brown sugar. So far this is the best method i've found that keeps it simple. I gave up loaves of banana bread a long time ago and now make them in a muffin/bar format for ease of distribution. so if your looking to double down on the banana flavor of your bread without biting into what tastes like a bar of butter, follow along and let me know in the comments if it competes with your own variation of banana bread!

Ingredients:

• 12 large ripe bananas, the older the better (within reason)
• 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (substitute half of this with wheat flour if thats more your style)
• 2 tsp baking soda (the fresher the better)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 cup of unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 tsp white sugar (sprinkled on top for effect)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

kitchen tools:

• 1 large microwave safe bowl
• 2 large mixing bowls
• whisk
• mesh strainer
• medium size cook pot that fits the mesh strainer nicely
• muffin pans, or a loaf pan depending on presentation style

whisk together Flour, Baking soda, and salt in mixing bowl and set aside

we can start pre-heating the oven to 350 deg F at this point.

Peel and place the bananas into a large microwave safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap or other microwave safe covering and microwave on high for 7-10min until most of the liquid is seperated from the solids.

Take out your stovetop cook pot and place the mesh strainer into it, then pour hot microwaved banana mixture into the strainer and stir occasionally with fork to drain all the liquid out, ~15min should get the majority of the liquid to drain out.

Once it's drained as much as possible remove strainer with the solids and set aside for later use.

Cook down the banana liquid in the saucepan ~5-8min, stirring constantly until it starts to thicken. it will begin to have a frothy foam and slightly darken in color. remove from heat and let cool while we take the next steps.

First we need to melt the butter, i tend to microwave it for ~90seconds till it's mostly liquid with some solid remaining. not trying to get a pure liquid form.

In a large mixing bowl, add the banana pulp, the reduced banana liquids, melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs. Mix till combined, don't over do it.

start folding the dry ingredient bowl into the wet ingredient bowl. mix till just combined, streaks of flour are preferred as overmixing this will create a overly dense bread. At this point you would fold in the chocolate chips or walnuts if desired.

Now we get to dole out the dough into the baking trays, if your using muffin molds make sure not to overfill them, expecting the dough to almost double in size as it bakes. Sprinkle the white sugar over the dough in the trays, you can also sprinkle with walnut crumbles if desired.

Then place in the pre-heated oven for ~23 minutes. baking time varies on what type and size of trays you are using, once the top starts to brown use the wooden toothpick method to confirm done level, looking for a mostly clean toothpick on removal.

If you prefer to use a thermometer probe, cook to 190 deg internal temp.

Once removed from the oven, let them rest in the baking tray for ~10 minutes before removing or you will likely have some that stick to the tray and get mangled upon removal. Then transfer to a cooling rack and cover for another 10minutes before serving or bagging for storage.