I love banana bread! Especially warm from the oven with lots of butter. When I was newly married, I tried to find a banana bread recipe that was like the banana bread I had in college. Every recipe I tried was either dry, tastless or both. Then, several years later I was visiting my Aunt Jan and she had banana bread. It was delicious!!!! I have used this recipe ever since. I’m not sure if this is a vintage Betty Crocker recipe or a recipe that she got from my grandmother but I really don’t care. This is the only recipe I have found that is moist and very banana-y.

Ingredients                                                                                                          Print

• 2c. All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp. Baking soda
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1/2c. Shortening
• 1c. Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1c. Mashed Ripe Bananas
• 1 Tbsp. vinegar
• 1/2c. Milk

The first thing you need to do, an hour or so before you want to start your bread, is measure 1 tbsp. of white or cider vinegar in a liquid measuring cup and add whole milk to equal 1/2 cup. This is a “quick” way to clabber the milk and get a sort of mild sour/tart flavor. It will look kind of chunky and thick.

Set aside the milk and measure the flour, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift once. Set this aside and take your bananas and peel and mash them. NOTE: Black bananas give the best flavor. The more ripe the bananas are the more concentrated the sugars so there will a more pronounced banana flavor. My husband likes to say that if you can pour the banana out of the peel then it is about right. Two bananas is about 1 cup of mashed pulp.

Grease one large loaf pan and preheat your oven to 350º.

Put the shortening into a large bowl and add the sugar. Beat with and electric mixer until the sugar is incorporated.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated.

Now, add 1/3 of the flour and mix thoroughly.

Add 1/3 of the milk and mix.

Add 1/3 of the bananas and mix.

Continue by adding half of the remaining flour, milk and bananas, mixing in between each addition. Continue adding the remaining ingredients alternately and mixing thoroughly between each.

Pour into your bread pan and bake for 60-70 minutes.

Test by using a butterknife inserted into the highest part of the bread. If it has only a few crumbs clinging to it, your banana bread is done.