Old-Fashioned Banana Bread
This banana bread is just like Grandma's - moist and full of flavor. Made with nuts and plenty of ripe bananas, it tastes delicious with butter or on its own.
Servings 2 loaves
Ingredients
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups mashed, ripened bananas about 4-6
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- ¾ cup shortening
- 1½ cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ cup pecans or walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together.
- Mash bananas. Add lemon juice and stir.
- Cream shortening and sugar together with electric mixer.
- Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add dry ingredients, a little at a time, mixing between each addition. Alternate dry ingredients with milk until both have been completely added.
- Stir in bananas and nuts.
- Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.
- Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in pans for 10 minutes.
- Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.
Notes
When a recipe calls for sifted flour, you can use a whisk to sift if you don't have a flour sifter. The purpose of sifting is to get out any clumps, which a whisk can do as well.
It is important that you have bananas that have dark spots, as they mash up easier and have a stronger flavor. You can use a fork or a rotary beater to mash them. To make it even easier, you can put the bananas in a large plastic bag and use a rolling pin to mash them.
What if I don't have ripened bananas? You can place the bananas, still in peels, on a baking sheet and cook in the oven at 350 degrees until the peels turn black.
For shortening, I prefer to use butter-flavored sticks as opposed to the can of shortening. It is easier to measure and has a better flavor.