Chocolate banana bread recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you put too much banana in banana bread? ›

Fight the urge to use more banana than called for in your recipe. Using too much banana could make your bread heavy and damp in the center, causing it to appear undercooked and unappealing. If you have bananas leftover, you can always freeze them for later use.

As tempting as it may be to dump all those overripe bananas into your batter, four medium-sized bananas are typically the most that a single loaf of banana bread can accommodate — any more and you're likely looking at a loaf that's going to be dense and heavy rather than soft and moist in the middle.

Ripe bananas are not only softer and easier to mash and blend into a batter, but they are also sweeter, which is why baking recipes specifically call for ripe bananas in ingredient lists. As the bananas ripen, the fruit converts starches to sugars, making them sweeter and more flavorful.

Over mixing the batter

The reason is as you mix, the gluten begins to develop, and when too much development happens, you can end up with a dense, chewy loaf rather than the soft and delicious banana bread you were hoping for.

Too much baking soda or baking powder can mess up a recipe, causing it to rise uncontrollably and taste terrible.

"The nutritional value varies from recipe to recipe but generally speaking, banana bread contains flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and butter," she notes. "This is a carb-heavy food item, high in sugar, and low in fiber and protein."

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

Once the banana bread is done, it's necessary to let it sit in the baking pan for about 15 minutes and then transfer it to a plate where it will sit for a while longer.

Here's the secret: overripe bananas don't necessarily mean too-ripe bananas for banana bread. It really comes down to personal preference. Those brown-speckled, mostly yellow bananas are still ripe and will bake into a great loaf.

Mold on bananas is fuzzy white, gray, or greenish—it looks a lot like mold on bread. If a banana smells rotten or fermented or is leaking fluid, it's time to say goodbye. If the fruit inside, not just the peel, is black, that's a sign that your banana is too far gone to safely eat.

Why does my banana bread not taste like banana? ›

Using too much butter makes for a heavier cake with less banana flavor. Using double the amount of butter that the recipe called for left me with a loaf that was dry on the outside and moist on the inside. The coloring was almost identical to that of the loaf made with too little butter.

If you're planning to eat your banana bread within three to four days, it can be left out on a counter or table overnight at room temperature.

Bread contaminated with rope spoilage initially develops an unpleasant fruity odor similar to a strong scent of rotting pineapple or melon in a period of 12–24 hours. As time passes, this is followed by a discolored, sticky or soft bread crumb.

Basically, when your banana bread is done baking, you can check for doneness by inserting a toothpick, wooden skewer, or thin blade knife into the center of the bread. When you pull it out, it should be nearly clean, with perhaps just a few moist crumbs and no smudges or streaks of shiny, wet batter.

These brown spots, often seen as a sign of spoilage, are actually a dead giveaway of peak banana bread potential. But, there is a limit. Black bananas or rotten bananas are a no-go. (Note that green bananas are also not a good choice for baking.)

It is pretty simple to salvage an undercooked bread and create a decent loaf. Heat the oven to 350 F, return the bread to the oven, and bake for another 10 to 20 minutes. This will work even if the loaf has cooled, which is similar to par-baking bread.

Instead, they are meant to be enjoyed as an occasional treat. If you eat sweet desserts, such as banana bread, too frequently, you may experience health issues — especially if the rest of your diet relies on ultra-processed, nutrient-poor foods.

Old or expired baking soda/powder can lead to banana bread rising problems. Always use relatively fresh baking soda/powder when making banana breads & quick breads (such as pumpkin bread).