Ultimate Banana Bread Recipe (2024)

byBeth Le ManachJanuary 12, 2022March 22, 2023

98 Comments

January 12, 2022March 22, 2023 byBeth Le Manach

98 Comments

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Everyone needs a fantastic Banana Bread Recipe in their repertoire and this one is my absolute favorite bread recipes! It’s the kind of banana bread that is so moist and delicious it’s sure to cure whatever ails you. It’s like being wrapped up in a warm comfy blanket!

A great twist on this bread that is equally addictive is my Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe. Or for a quicker and easier recipe try my extra moist Banana Muffins with 3 Toppings.

Why You’ll Love This:

It’s extra moist and fluffy and just melts in your mouth!
Speckled with pecans and dark chocolate the texture and flavors are just divine!
It mixes up in 2 bowls, no electric mixer is necessary! And it also uses pantry staples so you probably have most of the ingredients on hand.
My favorite way to serve it is to slice it into large thick slabs and leave it on a cutting board allowing guests to serve themselves.
It freezes beautifully and you can reheat it a slice at a time, enjoying a “freshly baked” slice anytime you get the craving!

Tips for Making The Best Banana Bread

The key to this bread is to use very ripe bananas, they should be mushy and practically black!
Because bananas that look like this have a lot more sugar in them, and will also give you a lot more banana flavor.
Use vegetable or canola oil, instead of butter. Oil is a pure fat, whereas butter has milk solids in it. The pure fat will guarantee an extra moist banana bread
Add 1/4 cup of water to the mix, this will make your bread soft and fluffy and won’t weigh in down the way milk would.
Load it up with great mix-ins! I love chopped dark chocolate and pecans, but you could also add some unsweetened coconut too. For another great dessert idea with lots of mix-ins, including coconut, try my fully-loaded, Moist Carrot Cake Recipe.

How To Ripen a Banana Quickly!

If you do not have dark speckled bananas sitting on your counter, no problem! Here’s how you can do it quickly!
Place unripe bananas on a sheet pan lined with foil
Bake at 300F for 10 minutes
Flip bananas and bake for another 10 mins
Bananas will be black all over and mushy inside
Scoop out the sweet sticky banana and proceed with the recipe as directed! It’s the most genius trick that allows you to enjoy banana bread anytime you like!

A Word About Sweetness

My Banana Bread recipe video is one of my most popular videos on YouTube, having been viewed over 1.5 Million times as of this writing, and the biggest debate is over the sweetness.
Some say it’s perfect (I would fall into that camp) and some want it sweeter.
Here’s the thing, if you are using very ripe bananas you will have all the sweetness you want, plus a full tablespoon of vanilla extract and the chopped dark chocolate make it plenty sweet for me.
BUT if you really have a sweet tooth or your bananas aren’t that ripe, you could add another 1/4 cup of sugar to the recipe below.
Or if you want an even sweeter rendition on this recipe, try my Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, which is fantastic!

How to Store the Bread?

If you don’t devour this bread in a day, it will last 3-4 days wrapped in wax paper and then covered in aluminum foil.
Keep it refrigerated to preserve its freshness.
Or this banana bread also freezes beautifully, just slice it into thick slices and put it in individual ziplock bags.
It’s so moist that if you stack the slices together in one big bag they may be hard to separate.
Then to reheat it, wrap a slice in some paper towel and microwave it for 30-40 seconds and it will taste like the day you made it!

More Great Breakfast Recipes!

- Extra Moist Pumpkin Bread Recipe!
- Dutch Baby Pancake
- Blueberry Crumb Cake Recipe
- Spiced Zucchini Bread

If You Enjoyed This Recipe

Please Leave a Rating and a Review Below!

Ultimate Banana Bread Recipe

Yield: 1 loaf

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Ultimate Banana Bread Recipe! A great quick bread recipe for a Sunday Brunch or Breakfast. Light and fluffy and extra moist!

Ingredients

4 overly ripe, mashed bananas
3 eggs
3/4 cup (180 ml) of canola or vegetable oil
¼ cup (60 ml) of water
½ cup (100g) of sugar *I find this is enough sugar if adding the chocolate chips but if you have a sweet tooth I would increase it to 3/4 cup (150g)
1 tbsp (15 ml) vanilla
2 ½ cups (300 g) of flour
1/2 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking soda
½ cup (75 g) of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
½ cup (75 g) of Pecans or Walnuts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F (176C) degrees. Spray a 9” x 5" (23cm x 13cm) loaf pan with baking spray.
In a medium bowl mix dry ingredients and set aside. In a large bowl mix wet ingredients until combined.
Combine the dry into the wet, 1/3 at a time, being careful not to over mix! (Or you will have tough bread!) Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Pour into a loaf pan. Bake for 55 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
If bread starts to brown too much on the top, cover with foil and continue to bake until cooked through. Slice into thick slices and serve.

Notes

No ripe bananas? No problem! To ripen a banana quickly:

Place unripe bananas on a sheet pan lined with foil
Bake at 300F for 10 minutes
Flip bananas and bake for another 10 mins
Bananas will be black all over and mushy inside

This bread also freezes beautifully, just slice in and put it in a ziplock bag. Then reheat the slices in the microwave for 30-40 seconds and it tastes like the day you made it!

Prefer to make banana muffins instead? This recipe makes a bit too much batter for 12 muffins and the texture will be dense, for a light a fluffy banana muffin follow my Banana Muffin Recipe.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 241Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 47mgSodium: 22mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 3gSugar: 18gProtein: 5g

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This was really really good.
Beth’s Banana bread recipe is a winner, every single time I make it.
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1. Aww so glad you enjoy it! One of my faves too! 🙂
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My banana bread looks exactly like your cut slice. I was afraid it was going to be over done because I kept adding five more minutes, five more minutes.
Seemed like a lot for one pan, but it worked! Delicious.
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I made this last weekend, using your recipe exactly, except I had to cook mine about 10-15 minutes longer than the recipe. Know that was likely my ovens temp.
It was delicious! And, I felt it was a healthier “sweet” for my diabetic husband.
Thanks so much!
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1. Aww so glad to hear that! He may also enjoy these Vegan Brownies that use Coconut sugar. My kids say these brownies are better than the “real brownies” Ha!
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This is the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever tried. I love pecans and ghirardelli chocolate chips. These ingredients made it tasting even better.
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1. So glad you enjoyed it! One of my faves too! 🙂
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This is my go to recipe for banana bread, I’ve been using the recipe for many years now and it’s never failed. Thanks Beth for this basic and straight forward recipe
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1. YAY! So glad it has been a hit! 🙂
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Hi Beth can you please give me a measurement for 4 loaves?
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1. Well personally I would not do it that way, since it’s never an exact science, and some loaves may end up with more batter over others, and I find it’s easy to also make mistakes that way. I would just make the recipe 4x I know it’s tedious but then you are assured of the best results 🙂
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Excellent recipe! Yum!
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Beth, every one of your recipes work great for me. thanks for that.. Where is the “Beth” cookbook? If there is not one, might be time to get one available so we can order
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See Also
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1. Ha! Oh I know a cookbook will be available someday! Definitely on the “bucket list”! 🙂 I’m so glad to hear the recipes have been a hit! 🙂
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Hello Beth,
After two not so successful attempts at baking this wonderful banana loaf cake(cant call it bread-too sinful for that), I have finally got it right. I was baking at a higher temperature thanks to a faulty temperature setting on my oven. The one thing i did differently the third time was to put a sheet of aluminium over the parchment in the loaf pan before pouring in the batter. That prevented the bottom and sides from overbrowning. Also covered the top with foil for the last 25 mins of baking. Used one cup of sugar and baked for one hour and ten minutes. This cake tastes sooo soo good.
Was already in love with your chocolate banana bread recipe, chocolate birthday cake recipe both of which I have successfully tried and now this.
You really are a superstar! Thanks so much!
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Hi, Beth, I have been bought a bread maker for Mothers day,
And want to try your banna recipe, should I add the mashed banana or sliced banana after the mixture has been kneaded
And will it require less water.? Thank you
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1. Well this is actually a quick bread recipe so I wouldn’t recommend a bread machine since it only needs to be stirred not kneaded. Just a loaf pan and oven is all you need 🙂
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Hi Beth, What a yummy recipe! I was wondering if you have a favorite source for those plastic bread bags? I am thinking of gifting this for Christmas.
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I made this bread last night. Followed the recipe except I left out the chocolate chips. I didn’t add any extra sugar other than what was listed on the receipe. My husband is a diabetic so I don’t want to add any more sugar than necessary. It was delicious.
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Hi, Beth!
Can you, please, tell me what sort of flour you normally use when making this? I made it a couple of times, but it did not turn out as fluffy as yours seems to be. So, I was wondering whether the flour might be the culprit. Thank you so much!!!
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1. Ah OK let’s troubleshoot! So I use All-Purpose flour. Just spoon it into your measuring cups to measure so you don’t add too much or pack it down, too much flour will not yield a fluffy bread. 2.) Be sure you are using the oil (over butter) that helps with the fluffy part. Use vegetable oil or canola oil those work best, for a healthier option, I would use Coconut oil. But really any other oil is going to be too heavy and will create a denser loaf. 3.) Do not forget the water! Resist the temptation to use milk. Water is the secret ingredient to the fluffiest bread! If you are doing all these things and still getting a dense bread, add 1/4 cup more water. That should do the trick. Keep me posted on your results! 🙂
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  1. Hi Beth,
    This looks like a super yummy recipe … cannot wait to try it … just one question …. would you be able to tell approximately how much the ripe bananas should weigh … since the sizes of bananas wary from place to place … i feel like an approximate weight would help 🙂 thank you
    Reply
    1. Yes of course it’s about 1 pound, give or take! Hope that helps 🙂
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      1. Hi Beth
        Since bananas vary in size and we can’t always weigh your mash, can you please tell me if two cups of mashed bananas would work instead of ‘4 bananas’ ?
        Thanks you
      2. Oh sure 2 cups would be great! Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I can’t get mine to cook. I think the bananas need to be measured. Perhaps mine were too large? It’s been in the oven for 1 1/2 hours and still the toothpick is wet. Not hopeful at this point
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Hi Beth I made this banana bread last night and it was AMAZING! Thank you so much. I have tried many, many recipes over the years and this is definitely the tastiest one I’ve made. The texture and flavour is perfect. I left out the chocolate chips and increased the amount of light soft brown sugar to 1 cup as suggested in your comments. Next time I will try with dark brown muscovado sugar 🙂
We love our banana bread in the UK 🙂
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1. I’m so glad it was such a hit! This recipe is one of my favorites too! 🙂
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  1. hi there . nice to meet you maam , I am a Guyanese ,Guyana South american , I am Mufasa, I like to try ur Recipe , i try other culture food I cook a lot, for me n my mom, thanks Mrs beth.
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Helo beth
Great banana bread ! Loved it ! But just wanted know if the 1/2 cup sugar can be replaced with honey ?
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1. Hmm I haven’t tried it with honey, but if you have replaced honey in large quantities for sugar in other baked good recipes then you should be OK!
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Hello Beth
An amazing recipe.. I tried it and i loved it…. the bananas were already dark, but for me it was not at all sweet and i love it sweet. What do you recomend? Do you thin 3/4 Cup of sugar is enough? Do i have to change something else from the recipe? Thank you.
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1. Yes if you would like it sweeter then increase the sugar to 3/4 cup 🙂 no need to alter anything else. So glad you enjoyed it!
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  1. The banana bread looked nice and was fluffy, but pure baking soda flavour
    When putting only 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda on my second attempt, it was perfect.
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Hi Beth!
By chance, have you ever measured the bananas in cups or by weight? Size varies a lot!
Thank you!
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1. I haven’t been that precise with it. I just use standard size bananas and give or take a few tbsp it will either give you more or less flavor 🙂
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Wow! This is a fantastic recipe. I use wholewheat flour and sub raisens for the chocolate chips for a healthier version. This recipe also makes great mufins.
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środki wspomagające potencję
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This is a hit each time!
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1. YAY! Glad to hear it! 🙂 . One of my faves too! Ha! 🙂
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  See Also
  Favorite Brioche Bread Recipe
Beth, this recipe is simply AMAZING!!! I’ve been baking this banana bread every single week and share it with my kids’ teachers, friends and families. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Lost of love from Oman!
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1. Awe so glad you enjoy it! It’s been such a favorite in my family too! Such a joy it has been to share it with all of you 🙂 YAY!!
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Very easy recipe. It’s more like a cake than a bread. Very delicious
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Hi Beth,
Love your channel.Fantastic recipes.Just a quick question,would it be okay to reduce the number of eggs.Can I use two instead of three?Thank you.
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1. Sure I think that would be OK. It may just be a bit denser 🙂 . But still taste good! So glad you enjoy the recipes! 🙂
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Hey Beth!
I was wondering for how long does the bread last in the fridge?
and if frozen?
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1. Oh sure at least a month 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
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Hi Beth,
The recipie is really good
The bread turned out to be really moist
However I had small doubt,in the video 1 and half
Teaspoon of salt is said to be used and in the recipe on the site it’s half teaspoon of salt .
I put 1 and half teaspoon of salt in the bread I made and it turned to be salty. Please suggest what is the actual amount of salt to be used.
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1. So sorry! The video is wrong, go by the printed recipe, it should only be 1/2 tsp. My apologies!
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i have tried your banana bread recipe, huge success.
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1. YAY! So glad it was a hit! 🙂
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What does the water do in the recipe? So far I have never seen any banana bread recipe that calls for water.
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1. Oh it’s the best kept secret 🙂 I use water in a lot of my quick bread and muffin recipes, as it makes them really light and moist and won’t weigh them down like milk does 🙂 Try it and you’ll see!
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  1. Thanks for the tip, my banana bread recipe always comes out like fruit cake. Very excited to tey this recipe tonight
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    1. Keep me posted! I hope you enjoy!
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Do u think I could just skip the nuts?
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1. Oh sure you could definitely leave them out. No prob! 🙂
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Hi Beth
I plan making this. But I have a smaller loafpan. If am halving the recipe, how do I halve the egg number? Or would it be wise to pour extra batter to prep cupcakes?
Thanks in advance.
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1. I would keep the recipe as is and pour the extra into cupcakes 🙂 . Always can be tricky halving a recipe with an odd number of eggs 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
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Hi Beth, I would like to make the Banana Nut Bread, but would like to leave the chocolate bits out of the recipe. How much more sugar would I have to add to the recipe to make up the difference of sweetness that the chocolate added? I noted in the recipe that you had an adjustment if someone wanted more sweetness with the chocolate. Thank you for your reply.
Linda M
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1. Great question! If omitting the chocolate chips I would do 1 cup of sugar. Hope you enjoy!
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Made this banana bread for my dad for Father’s Day and he loved it! Best banana bread recipe!!!
Love all your recipes Beth!!❤️?
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1. YAY! So glad it was a hit!
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Just baked this today. It was enough to make two loafs and it was delicious! My dad isn’t a chocolate chip fan but he loved it! Thank you for sharing your recipes <3
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1. YAY! So glad it was a hit! 🙂
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Hi, Can I substitute the water with milk? Thanks!
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1. Sure you could do that, but it would make for a denser cake, not as light as if you used the water. Water, because there is not fat content to weigh it down, will give you a lighter texture. Hope that helps!
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Hello Beth,
This recipe is the best banana recipe. I use it in the cupcake form, and guess what?? my family love it. Very moist cake recipe…
Thank you for this yummy recipe Beth, I adore you so much.
Mega
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1. Yay! So glad it was a hit! This recipe is one of my favorites too 🙂
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Hello Beth,
I made your Banana Bread and I really loved it. That was an exceptionally nutty chocolaty Banana Bread!!Thanks So Much!
Just curious to know why do most Banana Bread recipes prefer Baking Soda to Baking Powder,though an acidic ingredient (like Buttermilk /Yoghurt) is not in recipe.
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1. Great question! Baking soda I find will get you a quicker rise than baking powder, hence the term “quick bread”. It’s funny because most people say you only use the soda when there is an acidic ingredient, but I find I use it any time I want a quick rise or chewier texture like with cookies. Hope that helps!
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Can I use muffin tins for this one? If yes, what would be the baking time? Thank you..
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1. Sure you could do that too. Just bake between 18-20 mins. Hope you enjoy!
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Hello! This seems lovely but I just wanted to be sure about the quantity of baking soda to be added. Would 10 grams be 2 teaspoons or 2.5?
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1. sure 2 tsp would be 14 grams 🙂 (7 grams per tsp) hope that helps!
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Hello! This seems like such a brilliant recipe and I’m so excited to try it. Before trying my hand at it, I just want to be sure about how much baking soda to add. You’ve mentioned 2tsp or 10ml of baking soda in the recipe. But the salt that has to be added in 5ml or 1/2 tsp. So shouldnt baking soda be 1tsp, since it’s exactly double the amount of salt. I don’t think there will be a difference in the volume that the quantities change so much, but I want to be doubly sure about it.
Thank you!
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1. I’ve never considered the salt in my recipes in relation to leavening. The salt is really just for the flavor. 14 grams of baking soda will do the trick. Hope you enjoy!
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For those that are intolerant to wheat, I tried it with spelt flower, and it’s delicious!
Lovely recipe, it’s the 4th time im making it now, love it.
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1. Great idea! Thanks for sharing! So glad the recipe has been a hit! 🙂
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Hi~ How many grams of butter to substitute the oil? Thanks!
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1. Sure if swapping the oil for butter it should be 180g of butter melted to 180ml. Enjoy! 🙂
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I forgot to put water in, would that make a big difference?
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1. hmmm, not sure it might just make it a bit denser and not as light. Bet me know how it turned out 🙂
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After I originally commented I appear to have clicked
on thhe -Notify me when new comments are added-
checkbox and now whenever a comment is added I recieve four emails with the
exact same comment. Is there a way you are able to remove me from that service?
Appreciate it!
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1. Oh no! So sorry about that. I dug around my site and I can’t figure out how to fix that for you 🙁 Unless you maybe delete your profile for commenting and create a new profile? That might do the trick! I’m so sorry, how annoying! Ugh…
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Supperb banana cake, moist and sweetness just right ! Not too greasy , not crumbly. Friends and family absolutely love it! Thx for sharing this recipe ,Beth !
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1. YAY! So glad it was a hit! 🙂
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HI! Thank you for this awesome recipe, it was crazy delicious!The banana bread is quite unknown here in Finland so it was my first time to taste it. totally worth it to try! 🙂
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1. YAY! So glad it was a hit 🙂 It really is such a yummy bread, and a very “American” treat I must say and such fun to know it has made its way to Finland!And that you enjoyed it 🙂 The distant cousin of banana bread is pumpkin bread, something we American’s really enjoy in the fall for Thanksgiving our national feast. If you can get canned pumpkin in Finland this one is great too! The flavors and spices could made it nice for the Holidays in Finland :)https://entertainingwithbeth.com/beths-extra-moist-pumpkin-bread-recipe/
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Hi Beth,
I’m dying to try out this fantastic looking bread but just a quick question. Can I substitute the plain flour for self-raising instead? If so, then I should probably omit the baking soda completely, no?
Many thanks in advance…
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1. Oh sure you could do that. But check the label on the flour to see if salt has also been added, most self-rising flours also include salt, so you may want to omit the salt as well 🙂 Happy Baking!
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  1. Hi Beth,
    Sorry I could not reply back earlier, but I made it and it came out just perfect! My first banana bread…
    Thank you so much for this awesome recipe.
    Reply
    1. YAY! So glad it was a hit! 🙂
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simply awesome recipe….I never get a moist cake…this recipe got me what it promised…ultimate banana bread…which is heavenly in taste and moissst!!…Thanx Beth!! 🙂
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1. YAY! So glad it was a hit! 🙂
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