Moist Whole Wheat Banana Bread
As if the world needs another banana bread recipe, right?
Well, if you’re conflicted like I am about balancing pure culinary delight with a modicum of health and nutrition, then you’ll find this moist whole wheat banana bread recipe a worthy contribution. It satisfies on all levels.
This is straight out of Whole Grain Baking by King Arthur Flour. I tweak it very slightly in the video but I’m not sure it’s to any advantage. The video, by the way, is quite unnecessary as the instructions below are more than adequate. But I do have fun shooting them and like to think there’s a chance someone will pick up a thing or two from watching.
Note: If you want to get wild and crazy, try adding a half cup of dried sweetened cranberries or, as my chocoholic wife quickly discovered, a half cup of semi sweet chocolate chips will send banana bread lovers over the top and maybe convert a few critics.
Enjoy!
Moist Whole Wheat Banana Bread Recipe and Instructions:
Be sure to use ultra ripe bananas for this. Their skins should be mottled black and they should feel soft to the touch. Using what you would normally consider to be ripe bananas will diminish the bread’s rich flavor.
½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter
½ cup (3 ¾ ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (~ 12 ounces) mashed ripe banana (3-4 medium to large bananas)
¼ cup (3 ounces) honey (I used sugar – works fine)
2 large eggs
2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat (I found that 2 cups was closer to 10 ounces – guess my whole wheat is heavy)
½ cups (2 ounces) chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and nuts, stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered for 10 minutes.
Bake the bread for 50 minutes. Lay a piece of foil gently across the top and bake until a cake tester (like a toothpick) inserted into the center comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes more. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, that certainly looks like an excellent recipe that I will definitely try. Thanks:)
I want to try it also. However, would not 2 cups of whole wheat flour be 16 ounces?
I think you might be thinking of water. It weighs 8 oz/cup. WW flour runs closer to 5 oz per.
My husband always buys to many bananas…no matter what I say….so today I will make this recipe with 5 leftover bananas…he bought 6 fresh yesturday!! We still have some leftover banana bread from last week in the frig…: (….quess I will send some fresh over to the neighbors… : )…..I’m looking forward to trying this with my white wheat…though my very favorite recipe is called banana,banana bread on the All Recipes.com.
Hi Sylvia.
How did it go? You could be the first to report on this recipe. I’m looking forward to seeing if others are as enthusiastic about it as I am.
Hi Eric, I love watching your videos and have learned a lot from you.Would you consider doing a cottage cheese dill bread? I had this years ago and have wanted to be able to bake it myself. I know with your input this would be possible.
Am I the only one to notice that this is yet another no-knead bread recipe? Keep ‘em coming, Eric!
Can’t wait to try this one.
Hi Fran,
Cottage cheese dill bread sounds good. May be quite a while (ages) though before I’d get to it as my list is miles long. So much bread, so little time.
Hey Tom,
How about that. I hadn’t though of it but you’re sure right. Who kneeds it? Sorry.
I’m tapping my fingers waiting for someone to tell me they’ve tried this banana bread recipe and how much they like it… or don’t like it.
I love it! I was worrited it would be like some other whole wheat things ive had in the past “cardboard” but its nice. Its really hardy too. I ashamed to admit i actually overbaked it a bit and its still really good.
Hurray, we have our first independent report on this banana bread recipe.
Thanks Jessy, so glad you like it!
Is it possible to use sourdough leaven instead of baking soda powder? If yes, how much? Thank you and Ciao
Hi Luci,
Sounds like a good idea. You’ll probably have to experiment with this since you might be one of the first people on the planet to try it. But if it works, let us know!
Since sourdough starter works slowly, I’m wondering if you would have to let it sit for a few hours to get established. Also, since starter is wet, and baking soda is dry, I think you would want to add more flour to the recipe.
Good luck if you try it.
Hey Eric, I tried the banana bread recipe and loved it! I used what I had on hand….substituted 1cup barley flour and 1 cup all purpose instead of whole wheat. I did not have enough bananas so I added 1/2c yogurt. Nice crumb!
Sounds great, Susan.
This is surprisingly good! It is a lot different than the recipe I usually use but I like it. Sweet but not too sweet. I like using honey in it. Makes it more moist I think. My daughter loved it and called it cake. Thanks.
wow!! this banana nut bread is delicious!! made it yesterday evening….it is all gone now. thankyou again for sharing your experience and recipes. I’ll try the recipe for whole wheat bread with the starter. I’ll let you know.
ps: it took me 20 more min of cooking, but it was worth to wait for.
ps to ps: I used 6 medium bananas , they were to ripe to eat.
it´s very tasteful!congratulations.
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