My Grandmothers Banana Bread

I love to bake and cook.  Being in the kitchen creating delicious foods is one of my favorite things.  Today I thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes.  This recipe is for my Grandmothers Banana Bread.  You can substitute any fruit (I think) for the bananas and make a delicious bread.  It is very rich and sweet, more cake like I think, but yummy none the less.  I use this same recipe for peach, apple and pumpkin breads.

I apologize in advance for some of the photos.  I'm going to work on taking better photos to share here, especially food photos.  :-)

For this recipe, you will need:  flour, salt, sugar, eggs, ripe bananas (I always use the overly ripe ones that I can't eat fast enough), baking soda, oil (I use canola oil, but I've also used vegetable oil), nutmeg and cinnamon.  
Side note: I only made a half recipe this time, but I'm giving you the ingredients for a full recipe.

Sift 3 & 1/2 cups of flour into a bowl.  
Side note: I always mix this batter by hand.  The one time I used a mixer the batter turned out too stiff and didn't make a good bread.

 Next add 2 teaspoons baking soda.

 

 Add 1 teaspoon of nutmeg. Also add I teaspoon of salt (I forgot to take a photo).

 Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Then add 3 cups of sugar.

Add four eggs. I take my eggs out of the refrigerator early and let them come to room temperature before adding to the mix.

Add 1 cup of oil.

Lastly, add 2 cups of mashed bananas.

 

Stir together until well blended.  (Sorry for this super blurry picture.  I didn't realize until too late!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  While the oven is preheating, I grease and flour my baking pans.  This recipe will yield 2 regular sized loaves.  This time I made 2 mini loaves and 1 regular size loaf.  (However, the regular loaf ended up a little thinner than usual.  I should have just done 4 mini loaves.)

A note on greasing pans for baking.  I used to use those name brand cooking sprays but every time would have to fight to get the bread/cake out of the pan.  I finally started using the old fashioned butter and flour combo to fix the pans.  Now the breads/cakes just fall right out when I flip them over.

Once pans are ready, fill about halfway with batter.  (More forgotten photos)

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes (if making 2 regular loaf sizes).

When they are done (I use the toothpick/knife test), turn out of pan onto cooling rack or plate. Let cool completely before serving or wrapping for storage.

Doesn't that look yummy!

 And it tastes great too!  

One more little side note about this recipe: My Grandmother's recipe calls for 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and it is good that way, but I always thought the cinnamon ended up as the main flavor that way.  A few years ago I toyed with the recipe a bit and changed my version to the 1/2 teaspoon.  I think there is more fruit flavor with less cinnamon.

Here is the full recipe.

My Grandmothers Banana Bread:
Yield: 2 loaves
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon each salt and nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups banana (or fruit of your choice)

Mix and bake at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

If you give this recipe a try, I would love to know what you think.  It also freezes really well.  I wrap a loaf in plastic wrap, then wrap tightly in foil and it stores in the freezer for months.

Hope you enjoy it!  

love & blessings
~*~

ps...I'm going to be doing a little housekeeping here at the old blog so if things start to look wonky please bear with me.  Thanks! ~*~