Sunday 1 April 2007

BANANA AND WALNUT BREAD



For someone who absolutely hates any sign of mush in a banana it may seem odd that I love making banana bread but, in my eyes, it is the only thing worth cooking with bananas. It is the perfect thing to bake to eat through the week and I am always secretly glad when we have a few blackening bananas needing to be used. For a while now I have been using the banana bread recipe in 'How To Be A Domestic Goddess', I leave out the nuts and the alcohol soaked fruits and include some chunks of dark chocolate and it is fantastic, it has never let me down so is the obvious choice whenever the banana bunch is past being edible. Today though, when I saw those over ripe bananas, I remembered my promise to make new recipes from my books and decided that this was a perfect, and easy, opportunity. I went through the books and decided on a recipe from 'Jane Grigson's Fruit Book' for banana bread with walnuts. This recipe was simple and fuss free, just flavoured with the bananas, the walnuts, and a little cinnamon. It cooked in exactly the hour that she specified (which always makes me view recipes very favourably), came out of the tin without any sign of a struggle, and when I cut a slice it had a sweet crust enclosing a beautiful moist interior. I think this might just be a new favourite.

8 comments:

pistachio said...

Ummmm, I love banana bread too. The one I usually make is with almonds but I'll try it with walnuts next time as that sounds like a fab combination.

pi xxx

Lady M said...

Always good to try new things. :) I'm glad this worked out for you. I too love banana bread, especially how it gets more moist the longer it sits. Mmmmm.

xoxo
Ilana

Anonymous said...

Hi Gemma,

It's AmyG from www.nigella.com. I read about your blog on a post, and thought I'd check it out! It looks amazing, that picture of banana bread looks like it came out of a glossy magazine. I wish all my blog pics came out that good. Anyway, feel free to have a gander at mine (www.newnigella.blogspot.com)! Keep up the good work! :-)

Amy G xxxx

Kathryn said...

That banana bread does look lovely (and I don't like bananas!). Mmm. It looks deliciously moist.

Kathryn x

Kelly-Jane said...

It does, it looks lovely :)

KJxx

Gemma said...

Pistachio - I would never have thought of adding almonds, I'll give that a try next time so thanks for the suggestions.

Ilana - Thanks, I love baking things that keep and don't need to be gobbled straight away!

Amy - Hi, I looked at your blog yesterday so will definitely go back for a proper read. I was quite pleased with this photo but wish I could say the same for all my pics!

Thanks Kathryn, thanks Kelly-Jane

Gemma x

Freya said...

Gemma,
I love Banana Bread too! There is a particularly good recipe knocking around for Banana and Coconut bread which is really moist. I love mine slathered in way too much butter!

Mark said...

The recipe in Hugh Furry Whittingstalls family cookbook is really good too - i like to vary it by adding some dried apricots, cranberries or whatever but 100% banana is good too.