How to make banana bread – recipe

Banana bread is delicious, keeps for ages, goes with all sorts – and it’s thrifty, too! Here’s how to make it in a few easy steps

Banana bread is, strictly speaking, more of a loaf-shaped cake, but, whatever you call it, the taste doesn’t lie. It’s utterly delicious, and the natural sweetness of the ripe fruit lends itself perfectly to baking. While it may not be exactly a health food, it is at least surely better for the heart than Elvis’ favourite fried banana and peanut butter sandwich.

350g very ripe bananas, peeled (net weight) 50g shelled walnuts, or cashews, peanuts or pecans, or chocolate chips (all optional) 50g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing 180g plain flour, plus extra for the tin 2½ tsp baking powder ½-1 tsp salt, to taste 160g soft light brown sugar 2 eggs

There’s truly no point in trying to make this with greenish or even yellow bananas; the skins must be predominantly brown, and the fruit inside soft and sweet. To accelerate the process, put the unpeeled bananas in a paper bag and leave them somewhere nice and warm, such as a sunny windowsill or boiler cupboard.

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6, and, if using walnuts or other nuts (cashews, peanuts or pecans work particularly well), put them on a tray to toast lightly while it’s heating, being careful they don’t burn. Once they’re nutty-smelling, remove, leave to cool, then roughly chop. If you’d prefer to use chocolate chips, add them in step 8.

Melt the butter in a small pan or in the microwave, then leave to cool slightly; if you prefer, you could also use a dairy-free variety, neutral oil or coconut fat instead, but do bear in mind that this recipe also contains eggs (for a plant-based alternative, Meera Sodha’s vegan and gluten-free version is available on the Guardian website).

Meanwhile, lightly grease a roughly 21cm x 9cm x 7cm loaf tin (sometimes sold as a 1lb tin) with butter or another neutral fat (coconut oil adds a rather nice tropical note here, if you like the flavour, but olive oil will do fine if that’s what you happen to have).

Remove and discard the stringy bits that run down the sides of the bananas, as well as any hard black bits (so long as the bananas don’t actually smell rotten, any discoloured parts will still taste good once mashed into the batter). Chop about two-thirds (230g, but there’s no need to be exact) of the bananas into chunks and put these in a small bowl; set aside the rest for the time being.

Anchor the bowl to the counter by putting it on a silicone mat, damp cloth or tea towel, then use a fork or potato masher to mash the banana chunks until smooth. Break up the reserved bananas into chunks, add these to the bowl and mash more roughly so you end up with a few larger lumps to add textural interest to the finished loaf.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a second bowl (alternatively, whisk to combine and break up any lumps). Put the sugar (I like the toffee-ish flavour of soft light brown, but if you prefer use white, demerara or muscovado instead) in a third, larger bowl, add the melted butter and stir to get rid of any clumps of sugar.

Beat the eggs and add to the sugar bowl. Anchoring it as before, use electric beaters or a whisk to whip until the mix is caramel coloured and puffy. Use a large metal spoon to fold in half the bananas, followed by half the flour mixture, then repeat, keeping as much air in the batter as possible. Finally fold in the nuts, if using.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for about an hour, until golden on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out on to a rack and leave to cool completely. Banana bread keeps very well wrapped in paper, and can also be frozen for up to three months.