Ultimate Banana Bread

From episode: Coffee Break Sweets.

Makes one 9-inch loaf

Be sure to use very ripe, heavily speckled (or even black) bananas in this recipe. This recipe can be made using 5 thawed frozen bananas; since they release a lot of liquid naturally, they can bypass the microwaving in step 2 and go directly into the fine-mesh strainer. Do not use a thawed frozen banana in step 4; it will be too soft to slice. Instead, simply sprinkle the top of the loaf with sugar. The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8½ by 4½ inches; if you use a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness five minutes earlier than advised in the recipe. The texture is best when the loaf is eaten fresh, but it can be stored (cool completely first), covered tightly with plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.

Ingredients
Instructions
Technique
  • Do the Ripe Thing

    Don’t even think of making banana bread with anything less than very ripe, heavily speckled fruit—unless you’re fine with a bland loaf. As bananas ripen, their starch converts to sugar at an exponential rate. In lab tests, we found heavily speckled bananas had nearly three times the amount of fructose (the sweetest of the sugars in fruit) than less spotty bananas. (The exact percentage will vary from fruit to fruit.) But the impact of ripeness only goes so far: We found little difference in sweetness between loaves baked with completely black bananas and those made with heavily speckled ones.

  • TOO SOON
    1.8% FRUCTOSE

    A lightly speckled banana has only a little fructose, the sweetest sugar in fruit.

  • JUST RIGHT
    5.3% FRUCTOSE

    A heavily speckled banana has a lot more fructose.

Technique
  • Who Knew? Bananas Have Juice


    Typical banana bread contains just three pieces of fruit. Here’s how we upped the number to five without turning the loaf into pudding.

  • 1. EXTRACT JUICE

    Microwaving ripe bananas for 5 minutes causes them to release “juice.”

  • 2. STRAIN IT OUT

    After straining the bananas, you should have 1/2 to 3/4 cup of liquid to work with.

  • 3. REDUCE THE JUICE

    Reducing the banana liquid yields a concentrated liquor, intensifying flavor without making the loaf wet.

Technique
  • Shingle Your Loaf

    Layering thin banana slices on either side of the loaf adds even more banana flavor to our bread (and brings the total number of bananas in the recipe to six). To ensure an even rise, leave a 1½-inch-wide space down the center.