Quick Breads

The Ultimate Banana Bread — Incredibly Moist, Never Dense

By the DoughEasy Team · February 2025 · 8 min read

Quick BreadBeginner1.5 HoursNo-Yeast
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The Secret is the Bananas

Most banana bread recipes produce an acceptable loaf. This recipe produces a spectacular one — deeply moist, richly flavoured, with a caramelised crust that shatters slightly when you slice it. The difference comes down to three things: the ripest possible bananas, brown butter, and not overmixing the batter.

This is a "quick bread" — leavened with baking soda rather than yeast, making it one of the fastest baked goods you can make. From bowl to oven in 15 minutes. Total time including baking: just over an hour.

🍌 The Riper, the Better
Wait for your bananas to go almost entirely black on the outside. At this stage, the starches have converted to sugars — the bananas are sweeter, softer, and up to 3× more flavourful than a yellow banana. If you're in a hurry, roast yellow bananas in their skins at 180°C for 15 minutes until the skins blacken. It works remarkably well.

Ingredients (1 standard loaf)

  • Very ripe bananas (about 3 large) 300 g (mashed)
  • All-purpose flour 220 g
  • Light brown sugar 150 g
  • Unsalted butter 115 g
  • Large eggs 2
  • Full-fat Greek yoghurt (or sour cream)60 g
  • Vanilla extract 1 tsp
  • Baking soda (bicarbonate) 1 tsp
  • Fine salt ½ tsp
  • Ground cinnamon ½ tsp

Optional: 100g chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, or both.

Method

1

Brown the Butter

In a light-coloured saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue cooking, swirling regularly, as it foams, sputters, and then subsides. Keep watching — within 2–4 minutes, you'll see golden-brown milk solids forming on the base and smell a warm, nutty aroma. Immediately pour into a bowl to stop the cooking. Brown butter adds a deep, toffee-like complexity that plain melted butter simply cannot match. Let it cool to room temperature before using.

2

Mash the Bananas

Peel the bananas into a large bowl and mash thoroughly with a fork. Leave a few small lumps — they're nice to encounter in the finished loaf. If your bananas are particularly large, weigh out 300g of mashed banana. Too much or too little significantly changes the texture of the final bread.

3

Combine Wet Ingredients

Add the brown sugar to the mashed banana and stir. Add the cooled brown butter, eggs, Greek yoghurt, and vanilla. Whisk until combined. The yoghurt is a key ingredient here — its acidity reacts with the baking soda to provide extra lift, and its fat adds moisture that keeps the loaf fresh for longer.

4

Add the Dry Ingredients — Do Not Overmix

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon directly over the wet mixture. Fold gently using a spatula — just until no streaks of flour remain. A few small lumps are fine. This is the most critical step: stop here. Overmixing develops gluten in a quick bread, meaning a tough, rubbery loaf instead of a tender one. Count your strokes if needed — 10 firm folds is usually enough. Fold in nuts or chocolate chips if using.

5

Bake

Preheat the oven to 175°C fan (195°C conventional). Grease a standard 23cm × 13cm loaf tin and line the base with baking parchment. Pour in the batter — it will be fairly thick. For extra crunch, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar on top. Bake for 55–65 minutes, tenting loosely with foil after 30 minutes if the top is browning too quickly. It's done when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out with only moist crumbs (not wet batter). The internal temperature should read 95°C.

6

Cool in the Tin

Let the banana bread cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Cool for at least 30 more minutes before slicing. The structure sets as it cools — slicing hot results in a gummy, compressed interior. It is genuinely worth the wait. Banana bread is also widely considered to taste even better on day 2, when the flavours mellow and the texture firms slightly.

Variations and Add-ins

  • Dark chocolate chips — 100g folded in. The bitterness balances the sweetness perfectly.
  • Walnut & pecan — 100g toasted nuts for crunch and richness.
  • Espresso banana bread — add 1 tsp instant espresso powder with the dry ingredients for a subtle coffee depth.
  • Cream cheese swirl — dollop 4 tbsp softened cream cheese mixed with 2 tbsp sugar on top, then swirl with a skewer before baking.
  • Tahini marble — drop tablespoons of tahini across the batter and fold through once for a nutty, sesame swirl.

Why Is My Banana Bread Dense?

  • Overmixed batter — the most common cause. Developed gluten creates a rubbery crumb.
  • Too much banana — more banana = more moisture = longer baking + potential collapse. Weigh it.
  • Not enough leavening — make sure your baking soda is fresh (test by dropping it in vinegar; it should fizz vigorously).
  • Underbaked — wet crumb or gummy centre means it needed more time. Test with a skewer before removing.

Storage

Wrap the cooled loaf in cling film or store in an airtight container. It keeps at room temperature for 3 days and refrigerated for up to 1 week. To freeze: slice, wrap individual pieces, and freeze for up to 3 months. Toast slices directly from frozen for a warm, slightly caramelised result.