Ultimate Banana Bread Showdown - Triple Tested #10

My fellow Steemians,

I love banana bread. I have loved it since I was a child and my mom would make homemade banana muffins (let’s not split hairs it’s pretty much the same thing). When I was older I took the same muffin recipe I grew up with, modified the baking temperature and time and made it into banana bread. I thought it couldn’t get any better.

When I saw a cookbook that boasted to have the best, most thoroughly tested of any recipe including a banana bread I had to pit it against my family’s recipe. Then as a palate cleanser I also tested a store bought mix banana bread. I didn’t have high hopes. Let’s see what happened!

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The Contenders
Banana Bread #1: Cookbook Recipe
"Banana Bread." The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition. Ed. Lori Galvin. Brookline: America’s Test Kitchen, 2004. 685-686. Print.

Banana Bread #2: Family Recipe

Banana Bread #3: Box Mix
Robin Hood Quick Bread Mix - Banana

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Recipe #1

I was really impressed with the moistness and texture of this recipe. It was the perfect balance of a denseness without being too heavy. It still had enough lightness to it. The banana flavour was present and nicely balanced. Though the quality of the banana flavour is dependent on the ripeness of your bananas. I had to make this recipe twice. The first time I only had one banana that was baking ready — very soft with dark brown spots on the peel. The others I had were sort of soft with some freckling. I thought that would be good enough and I was wrong. My first batch hardly tasted like banana at all. I fixed my mistake with the second batch and they were lovely.

Recipe #2

What I have always liked about this recipe is its moistness and banana flavour. Any store bought loaf always paled in comparison because their flavour was never as strong. That’s what this recipe has always been about. The ingredients between this recipe and the cookbook recipe are very similar except my family recipe uses vegetable oil instead of melted butter.

Recipe #3

Oh boy. This loaf was a full frontal assault on my palate. First off I noticed when mixing the batter that it was much thinner and runnier than the homemade recipes. And they baked up moist but with a less complex texture. Not very satisfying. And the flavour was overly artificial and sweet, even more so than I expected. I couldn’t eat them beyond my initial taste test.

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I was shocked that after the taste test I had to admit that the cookbook recipe is a better recipe than the one I grew up loving. When I tasted them back to back I immediately noticed that my recipe was far too sweet. This might be because to the same volume of sugar the cookbook recipe uses more flour. This would make it less saturated in the batter. This difference in quantity also probably helps make the banana flavour by not masking it in added sugar.

I will always have a nostalgic soft spot for my family recipe. Give it a try yourself, it may just be the recipe for you.

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My Family’s Banana Muffin Recipe

3 large ripe bananas
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a standard 12 well muffin tin. (For banana bread preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9” x 5” loaf pan.)

2. Mash bananas well with a fork. In a large bowl combine mashed banana, sugar and egg, mix well. Add oil, mix to combine.

3. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry mixture to banana mixture, mix until just combined.

4. Pour into prepared muffin tin or loaf pan.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes (for loaf bake 55-60 minutes) until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

6. Allow to rest in pan for 5-10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Written by Robin Luis with Photography by Shane Luis