Sourdough Banana Bread

In the June “In My Kitchen” post, I put in a couple of teaser recipes and promised more about them later.   Today’s the day to reveal this FANTASTIC banana bread recipe.

I’ve started sourdough a couple of times and was able to maintain a live batch for a few months a couple of years ago.  With yeast being one of the hoarded articles and absent from store shelves, I decided it was time to start another batch of sourdough.   (Here’s my sourdough starter recipe and all my recipes for using it.)

I am using my sourdough so much I sometimes worry about over feeding it.   It’s still alive so there is that!

I’ve made this recipe twice with rave reviews.   The first time I used very gnarly looking frozen bananas from the depths of my freezer.   Some of them had even started to shrivel a bit.   This bread made them rock stars.  The second time I made it The Hubs told me that we had a bunch of bananas hanging on the “banana holder” that had literally peeled themselves.   I had the solution to that problem—more banana bread!

Sourdough Banana Bread

Based on a recipe from I am Baker

Good to use up not only your over-ripe bananas, but also to revamp your sour dough starter.

Ingredients

  • 2 c. all-purpose flour  (For my second batch, I used half white and half whole-wheat.)
  • 1/2 t. baking soda
  • 1/2 t. fine sea salt
  • 1/2 c. coconut oil, melted
  • 1/2 c. brown sugar (I used Swerve on the first batch and regular full-octane brown sugar on the second.)
  • 1/2 c. granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 4 ripe bananas
  • 1 c. sourdough
  • 3/4 c. walnuts, chopped  (Used pecans on second batch.)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9×5-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray.
  2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a whisk to combine ingredients. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl (or bowl of your stand mixer) add the coconut oil and sugars. Mix on medium-high with a hand-held mixer until ingredients are fully incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.
    To the bowl add in the eggs, vanilla, and bananas. Mix very well until only a few lumps of banana remain. Scraping the bowl as needed.
    Add in the flour mixture and the sourdough starter and mix until just incorporated.
    Pour batter into prepared pan.
    Bake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes or until an inserted toothpick is removed with crumbs but no wet batter. Do not over bake.
    Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 1 large loaf

I think this has a great crumb for banana bread and this recipe is not too sweet, the way I like it.   The sourdough taste comes through just a hint and may attribute to the perfect bite.

It slices up great, too.

So to all those hoarders out there that bought up all the flour and the yeast, I hope that you are really baking.  If you are, that is great news.  Homemade is obviously the best.  If you are not, a big shame on you when you dump all that buggy flour in six months and when you find a small jar of yeast in the back of your fridge in 2023.

Hope you try sourdough and I hope you try this recipe.

Be well!

 

Aside:  My mom recently mentioned that she was having a hard time finding canning lids.  What?   So, hoarders, the same thing goes.  I hope that you are going to can lots of produce this growing season.   If not, shame on you again.

5 comments to Sourdough Banana Bread

  • Sourdough bread has such magnificent flavor! Love the stuff. Never had a sourdough banana bread, though. Nifty idea — thanks.

  • The banana bread looks fabulous! Those slices would be great to toast too :-))
    Did you use sourdough discard or active one?

  • mae

    As one of the unusual banana haters, I’m afraid that recipe wouldn’t be for me, though I acknowledge that most people would love it.

    As for hoarding: some of the shortages are really the result of irrational/panic buying, but some are actually a matter of increased demand due to everyone staying home and cooking for themselves. That was especially true of flour — now the milling industry is catching up as far as I know. At least in our area flour is generally available, and the Kroger website says yeast is also back in stock. Those things really took a while to catch up with people’s new way of cooking, which is not necessarily hoarding. Also, amazon.com at the moment offers a large variety of mason jars, lids, and so on. So maybe that’s a regional issue, or something. Now that a lot of shopping and eating out options are opening up in some states, maybe things will change again.

    be well… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

  • That’s a photo for the cover of Bon Apetit! Beautiful, looks very moist. Glad you posted the recipe for sourdough too. I had a plan to start a batch, had been dealing with a medical issue and just couldn’t focus on cooking or anything new.

    We haven’t been able to find bread flour in a month. I have a scant amount left but saving it for a baguette for our anniversary dinner.

    I used to freeze bananas for a smoothie. Nothing goes to waste!

  • I’m sure this taste as good as it looks. The sourdough makes this bread quite special and the use of the coconut oil certainly doesn’t hurt either. Great Recipe!