Photo by Jeff Siepman on Unsplash
Baking gets a bad rep. Compared to cooking, it’s seen as super hard and super technical- “everything has to be exact, it’s a science”. That’s not exactly true. I think when you’re baking for personal consumption, the goal is to create something you enjoy, not to create something perfect or to get the same exact results as a recipe.
There’s a reason why banana bread is a popular bake- it’s easy, it’s customisable and it uses ingredients that most people have at home. I like my loaves to have a nice crumb- I don’t like that kind of gloopy bake that passes as “moist”. After a fair bit of trial and error, I finally found a recipe that works really well every time and is kind enough to accommodate minor mistakes.
Ingredients
1 cup sugar (this can be any sugar. I’ve used all brown, all white and a mix of both. The sugar will affect texture a little bit but it’s up to you what your preference is, and what you have available)
2 eggs
3 mashed bananas
2 cups all purpose flour (you can use self raising flour and exclude the baking powder and salt)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
140g melted butter (or 1/2 cup oil)
If your butter is unsalted or you’re using oil, add 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
Method
Mix all the ingredients together in the order listed until combined (do not over mix) and bake- if you make cupcakes or muffins, it will be ready in 12 minutes. If you make a loaf, it will be ready in 30-40 minutes.
If you have an oven you can set, put it on 200c.
If you have one of those ovens that just have no temp gauge, put it on a medium heat and check after 12-30 minutes depending on the size of your pan.
And there you have it. It’s not as clinical and straightforward as a regular recipe, which some people will hate and some will prefer, but I’d like you to bake in the mindset of being able to make adjustments that won’t alter the end result in any meaningful way. If you try this recipe, let me know what you think.