Banana Bread With Self Rising Flour

Today I am making my amazing banana bread with self rising flour. This recipe is famous in my family and my kids call it my Goldilocks banana bread because it is not too dry, not too moist – just right!

Have you ever faithfully followed one of these recipes, only to discover – too late – that it’s too dry? Or too oily? Why are so many banana breads loaded with oil? It just is not necessary.

Banana bread has so much potential; when it’s good, it’s very, very good. But when it’s bad, it is sooooo disappointing.  This recipe works every time, just follow along at home.

So let’s dive right in and start making this banana bread with self rising flour.

Some things are guaranteed to bring me great joy, and the best banana bread is one of those things. I love absolutely everything about it! From the way it smells, to the taste, to the way it makes me remember my Grandma. This recipe always makes everything better!

Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe are things you probably have in your pantry and/ or refrigerator anyway. Let’s take a look at what you’ll need:

Self rising flour – 2 cups. Today I have used a mixture of both plain and wholewheat self rising flours because I like the extra flavor from wholewheat.

Use about a 50% and 50% mixture of the plain and wholewheat if you have both available. If you only have plain self rising flour available that is fine, it will work perfectly well.

Mashed banana – 2 cups. This works out to be about 4 medium sized bananas, or 2 large bananas. As you can see in the picture above, I’ve got 4 medium to small bananas that are a bit past their prime for eating on their own. Which is why I decided to make them into banana bread today.

If you still have leftover bananas use them up in my Canadian pancakes or my banana pikelets – they both taste amazing.

Eggs – 2 large eggs at room temperature. Room temperature eggs combine much more easily with the other ingredients, and then assist with the rising process of the batter more effectively.

Brown sugar – 3/4 cup of regular brown sugar or dark brown sugar. At my supermarket I can buy dark brown sugar, so that is what I am using here for the extra little bit of flavor.

Regular brown sugar is perfectly fine, you could even use plain white sugar if that is all you have available. Just double the vanilla for extra flavor if you are using plain white sugar.

Butter – 1/2 cup of butter. It must be softened to room temperature otherwise you will struggle to combine it with the other ingredients.

Tip: if your butter is cold from the fridge, put it in direct sunlight for 5 minutes or so and it will help to soften it up.  The butter must be soft because we are going to whip the sugar through it.

Yogurt – 1/3 cup of natural yogurt, sometimes called Greek yogurt. Sour cream also works but I prefer the yogurt as it has less fat and tastes great.

Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon. I love vanilla, enough said.

Ground cinnamon – 1/2 teaspoon, this works so well with the vanilla to make an amazing flavor.

Salt – 1/4 teaspoon – just a dash to help with the baking process, you will not taste it.

Baking soda and baking power. Skip this if you are using self rising flour. But if you are using regular flour, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.

Was I right to guess that most of those things are already in your pantry or refrigerator? I usually have all those things, and whip up my banana bread recipe when I’ve got some very ripe bananas left at the end of a bunch that nobody wants to eat. While my family don’t enjoy eating over ripe bananas, they’re perfect in banana bread.

This is a pretty easy banana bread recipe that is delicious eaten on its own or lightly toasted and spread with lashings of butter. It’s wholesome comfort food!

Directions

I’ve made this recipe a whole bunch of times – too many to count! – so you can be sure that it will turn out perfectly every time. Here’s what to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). It’s important for the oven to already be at the baking temperature before you put the batter in.
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (or 23 x 13 x 6cm) loaf pan – or line the pan with baking paper.
   • If you use baking paper, remember to leave enough so that it overhangs the pan. Then, when cooked, you can lift the loaf out using the baking paper ‘handles’.
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and cinnamon, and whisk them together. These will be your dry ingredients.
   • If you are not using self rising flour then add in the baking soda and baking powder in this step.
4. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until they have the consistency shown in the picture below. Set this bowl aside until called for in a few steps.

5. In a large bowl and/or mixer using the paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar until it forms a creamy consistency. Expect this process to take a couple of minutes.

• You can do this by hand and it will work perfectly. The day I took these pictures I did not have a mixer available and it tasted great. 
• The warmer the butter is for this step, the easier it will be to whip it. If the butter is hard from the fridge it will not blend well.

6. Using medium speed, add in one egg at a time to the banana and sugar mix – making sure that each egg is blended well before adding the next.
7. Beat in the yogurt (or sour cream or milk), vanilla.

8. Once the wet ingredients are well combined, switch the mixer to low speed.
9. Fold in the dry ingredients a little at a time but do not over-mix. Once the batter looks like the picture on the right below, you are done.

10. If you’re using add-ins (chopped nuts, choc-chips etc), fold in using a spoon.
11. Scoop the batter into your prepared loaf pan.
12. Cover with aluminum foil and prepare to bake for 60 minutes.
13. Remove the foil at the halfway point, ie, after 30 minutes.
    • This allows the top of the banana bread to go a nice baked brown color.
14. After 1 hour, test the bread with a skewer. If it comes out clean when skewered, the bread has finished. If it comes out with batter on it, return the loaf pan to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
15. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
16. Cut into slices and serve with butter, or have a look at the ‘variations’ (below).

Variations

I love giving you options to personalize my recipes, and this basic banana bread recipe is no different. In fact, the options are only limited by your imagination! Here are some of my favorites:

• Stir 2/3 cup roughly chopped walnuts or pecans through the batter just before pouring into the loaf pan. When almost cooked, press a couple of walnut or pecan halves into the top.
• Add 1/2 cup choc chips to the batter – then stir – just prior to pouring it into the loaf pan.
• Replace one banana with 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce.
• Add 2/3 cup chopped dates or dried apricots to the batter. Stir, then pour into the loaf pan.
• Replace one banana with 1/3 cup fresh or tinned passionfruit pulp.
• Add 1 teaspoon dried ginger or all-spice to the dry ingredients.
• Do you like berries? Add 2/3 cup berries (raspberries, blueberries, quartered strawberries) to the batter and stir in.
• Add 1/2 cup cranberries and white chocolate chips to the batter before pouring into loaf pan.
• Cut into thick slices, toast, then cut into ‘fingers’ and serve with butter and cinnamon sugar.
• Add 1/3 cup cocoa and 1/4 cup water to the recipe.
• Serve with jam & whipped cream.
• Top a slice with butter and a generous pour of good quality honey.

Freezing Instructions

Banana bread is very easy to freeze, but there are a few simple steps to remember:

• Firstly, make sure the banana bread has cooled completely.
• Secondly, cut the loaf into slices. It would be very difficult to slice when it is frozen, so do it before freezing.
• Thirdly, wrap each individual slice in two layers of cling film.
• Lastly, add the wrapped slices to an airtight container, date it, and freeze it.

Cooled, wrapped, stored, and frozen banana bread will keep nicely for 1 – 2 months.

Can I use self rising flour?

Absolutely! To make this banana bread with self rising flour the only thing you have to do is not use the baking soda and baking powder called for in the ingredients. Simply ignore them. The reason is because your self rising flour already contains these in the correct amounts, so you are good to go.

Can I make this banana bread without baking soda?

Out of baking soda and stuck at home? Yes, you can make this banana bread without baking soda.  You have a couple of options.

If your flour is self rising, simply omit the baking soda and baking powder called for in this recipe and you are good to go. 

However, if you have all purpose or plain flour, we have a few tricks up our sleeve.  Baking powder contains the same ingredients (and more) as baking soda.  So, if you have baking powder but no baking soda, simply triple the baking powder called for in this recipe.  Baking powder is a bit salty, so you should leave out the salt listed in these ingredients.  

Don’t have any baking powder either?  This is a bit trickier as we don’t have the leaving agents.  We will turn to the egg whites and some extra salt to do the job.  Separate the eggs called for in the ingredients, and add one extra egg white only.  Also double the salt. Whip the egg whites very well, and fold them into the batter at the end to give it a lighter texture.  The extra egg whites and salt will get you through in a pinch.   

You will also love these other great recipes:

• A chewy Anzac biscuit recipe – my Grandma’s recipe, these are so tasty and easy to make.
• A no bake cheesecake with condensed milk – takes a bit longer, but oh so good.

I’d love to hear how you go making my favorite banana bread recipe. Got any tips you can share with our readers? Please leave a message in the comments section below.

Until next time!
Love & warm banana bread spread with too much butter, Bx