Banana Bread

As far back as I can remember one of my favorite things to eat is my Dad’s homemade banana bread. He was a baker in the Air Force so when it comes to baking pies, bread or any other type of pastry, he usually nails it, though he always says it’s a little different dealing with such small amounts of ingredients compared to measuring by the barrel in the Air Force.

So one night about a month ago I decided that it was time to try and make this all-time personal favorite, and it turned out so well that Rachel even liked it.  She liked it so much that she requested I make it again earlier this week, so I obliged and snapped a few pics along the way.

Obviously I’m not a seasoned veteran in the kitchen so of course I flipped through a few of our cookbooks and chose the one recipe that didn’t say “low fat.”

The ingredients are pretty simple, and it doesn’t really take that long for it all to come together.

I started by mixing all of the “powdered” ingredients together and greasing the bread pan.

I also mixed the eggs, mashed bananas, sugar and melted butter together in a separate bowl. I left out the walnuts, probably because my dad never put them in his banana bread and for me it’s just as bad as walnuts in carrot cake. Yuck.

Next I mixed the two bowls of ingredients together into a sticky, lumpy mess and poured it into the bread pan.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and then set the pan of gooey goodness on the middle rack for 55 minutes. Our oven isn’t exactly the highest of quality.  In fact, we have never even heard of the brand before we moved in, so take a mental note to pass on the “Conservator by Crossly” if you ever see it on the showroom floor.  After 55 minutes had passed, I checked it by sticking a knife in the middle, and it didn’t come out completely clean so I left it in for another 4 minutes. I then set it out on a wire rack and let it cool for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes I removed it from the pan and let it continue to cool.

The recipe calls for it to be packaged and sit over night before slicing and dicing, but there is no way that we can wait that long in this house.  So about an hour later, we cut a couple slices and gobbled them down as we talked about what we were going to do for dinner.  That is what we call an appetizer around here.

I have to say it turned out pretty good. I still love myself some banana bread by Bob, but this recipe does the trick to satisfy my craving for it. How about you? Do you have any recipe that a family member has always made that you’ve never tried making yourself?