Banana Nut Bread
 

I am not sure if I have posted this before, but because it is the time of year when we are baking more, I will post it now. It is made with buttermilk and very moist and tasty. It is a particular family favorite and goes over really well at pot lucks and in gift baskets.

Banana Walnut Bread

INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed bananas
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 3/4 cups chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)


DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Spray one 9"x5" loaf pan with non-stick spray coating.

2. In medium bowl, blend together the eggs, buttermilk, oil and bananas.

3. Sift into a large mixing bowl : the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt, and blend Add banana mixture and blend well, but do not over mix ! Stir in pecans.

4. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top begins to brown too fast, cover with foil. ( I usually cover the last 20 minutes ).

NOTE: I also bake this in a pan that holds 8 mini loaves, and the cook time is approx. 30 minutes. I spray the pan with Pam before pouring in the batter. I bake this more often in the mini loaf pan, especially over the holidays. The small individual loaves are very nice to add to a gift basket, and they cook faster ! The small pans are sometimes hard to find, but are more easily found around the holidays. To find them online, search for "8 cup mini loaf pan ".

Buttermilk! I pass on any recipe that calls for it.....don't like it, so I would have to buy a qt. Just to use a bit, then throw rest away! I understand there is a way to use reg. milk by adding, I think vinegar, but never tried that......has anyone here tried?

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*** I love buttermilk - sounds like my kind of recipe.
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*** Buttermilk makes your biscuits and all baking fluffier.
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This recipe sounds great. I bake for everyone at the holidays and small bread loaves are my favorite. Sometimes I buy the dry buttermilk powder at the grocery store if I don't think I will use a quart before it expires. The recipe I have calls for sour cream and it also is moist, but I am going to give this a try for the holidays. The girls at quilting love my baking so they can be the first to get the loaves. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for sharing this recipe.

I don't always have buttermilk either and read somewhere that you can use milk with a tablespoon vinegar to replace it. It works! I did find powered buttermilk too.
Lynda

I commonly use the milk/vinegar substitute and it works just fine. Just give it a bit of time to sit and work before adding it to the recipe. (prepare it as the first step in the recipe will give it the time it needs usually)

It's only a third of a cup...the bananas flavor takes over the entire bread taste anyway......If you don't want to purchase the buttermilk, just use plain milk. Another note, a tablespoon of vinegar with a third of a cup of milk might be a little too much.

I will try this. I found that you can get dried buttermilk in the baking section of the grocery store and add water to it to use it. Until I found this, I was either not buying it or tossing half a bottle away. After the can of dried buttermilk is opened, it keeps for quite a while in the fridge. Love it!

Just remembered - I add a cup of mini chocolate chips to my banana bread - turns out great1