Organic Banana Bread

I have several recipes for banana bread.  It is easy to make and the ingredients are all things I keep on hand. 

The bananas are kept in the freezer.  I buy a bunch of bananas and whatever is left at the end of the week with black spots, I put into the freezer.  When there are enough bananas to make the recipe, I remove them from the freezer, place them on a plate on the counter, and let them thaw.  They will let off liquid so you must use a plate or else it ends up all over the counter.  The bananas look like regular bananas when they go into the freezer and come out, but as they defrost they turn black.   This is what they look like when they are defrosted:

I like the Betty Crocker recipe.  I just adapt the recipe by using organic ingredients.  I am able to find organic ingedients for almost everything except baking soda, salt, vanilla and vinegar (for the buttermilk substitute).  I can find organic chocolate chips but they are too expensive for me.  It is a simple recipe and everyone has a Betty Crocker cookbook.

I make the buttermilk out of organic milk and vinegar.  Place 1 Tablespoon of vinegar at the bottom of a liquid measuring cup and then add the milk to the amount called for by the recipe.  Let it sit on the counter while you make the rest of the recipe.  It will become thick and ready to use like buttermilk.  I find this is wasy to do and since buttermilk is expensive, it is a cheaper way to get the flavor of buttermilk into the recipe.  Also, buttermilk is not an ingredient I keep on hand but I always have milk in the fridge.

Whenever I bake I try to make enough to freeze or bring to work.  When I make this recipe I double or triple it so I get a lot of loaves.  I also use the small loaf pan.  Mine is silicone and has room for six loaves.  I like it better than one big loaf because I can give more away and waste less.   When I made this recipe I doubled it.  I am listing the one batch recipe but the photos are for the doubled version.

Here is the recipe:

1 1/4	cups sugar (organic)
1/2	cup butter or margarine, softened (organic)
2	eggs (organic)
1 1/2	cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium, organic)
1/2	cup buttermilk (organic or made with organic vinegar)
1	teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2	cups all-purpose flour (organic)
1	teaspoon baking soda
1	teaspoon salt
1	cup chopped nuts, if desired (organic)

All of the organic ingredients were purchased at Whole Foods

Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F.
Grease bottoms only of loaf pan(s).

Mix sugar and butter in large bowl.   Stir in eggs until well blended.

Butter and sugar mixture with eggs added



Butter, sugar and eggs blended together

Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Mashed bananas



Bananas, vanilla and buttermilk added



All mixed and smooth

Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened.   Add in two batches to avoid the flour going everywhere.

Dry ingredients

Batter prepared and ready for mix ins

Stir in chocolate chips. 

  
Now it is time to place it in the prepared pans.  I use a large ice cream scoop.  Four large scoops gets you just the right amount and each loaf will be the same size.

Bake loaves about 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

All done.  The two on the right of the top row have blueberries too.

If you like to add other things to your bread you can add nuts.  I had some blueberries to use up so I added some blueberries to the last 2 loaves.  So those were Banana Blueberry Chip. 

Stir the blueberries in by hand so they do not break.