I’m That B*tch That Got 16 Slices Out of Her Banana Bread

It’s been established among family that my “food memory” ability has pretty strong game. No better example than my recollection of making a banana bread recipe as a kid from a light tan spiral-bound Geneva Mother’s Club (now Geneva Women’s Club) cookbook from the late 70s or 80s?? It had all the standards: eggs, buttermilk/yogurt, butter, and sugar. I would love to get my hands on a copy of that cookbook but instead I resorted to trying to find something similar.

I ended up landing on BBC Food’s simply titled, Banana Bread, recipe and went with it. I made 3 alterations as I tend to do.

1. Swapped in homemade yogurt for buttermilk
2. Used 1/2 dark brown sugar and 1/2 granulated white – thought any caramelization from the dark would be *chef’s kisses
3. Added a few smatterings of cinnamon and nutmeg—I would guess less than 1/4 teaspoon each

It’s quite perfect for what I was looking to satisfy memory-wise and I wanted to make a few notes for the next time I get around to making it.

• The recipe is notated in metric measurements – love that precision!!
• Disappointed that grams weren’t listed for the bananas as I had 3 smaller bananas and 1 larger, but I went with it—401 grams for me
• So glad I understand what ‘folding’ in flour mixture means – no dense glutenous-formed bread here
• At an hours time my bread—even though it had a golden top—looked slightly underdone, a toothpick came out clean but I didn’t buy it. Did some research and found these very helpful tips from King Arthur Flour. Aim for an internal temperature of 200° F. I first put it back in for an additional 10 minutes and then added 5 minutes in between each temperature check – I ended up baking an extra 25-30 minutes and yes my oven measured at 350° F. The internal temp before starting was ~ 165° F.

Recipe stated it would be 10 slices at 334 calories but I wanted to try and shave that down a little bit and was able to cut 16 slices for about 207 calories a slice. Much better for a snack.

I owe my luck with 16 slices to our really great new bread knife, letting the loaf cool for a few hours, and my cutting technique for even slices. First cut is directly down the middle then there are 2 halves, then proceed making center cuts with each “new” section until you have the number of slices you want.

😍