Banana Bread
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| Photo by Jamie Winkelman |
Banana Bread | |
My Mom has been making this banana bread for as long as I can remember. I love it warm, with just a touch of melting butter or a slice of cheddar cheese.
It’s a great way to use bananas that are past their prime. You can freeze unpeeled ripe bananas, and thaw them just before use.
The recipe calls for sour milk, made by adding lemon juice or vinegar to milk. Don’t worry, this won’t adversely flavor your recipe. It simply provides the acid necessary to react with the baking soda. (With pasteurized milk, this is the only way to make sour milk. Pasteurized milk will spoil, but it will not go sour like raw milk.)
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
2 cups flour
1/2 chopped walnuts
* To make sour milk, mix 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice or distilled white vinegar with 1/4 cup of milk in a glass measuring cup. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cream together sugar and shortening. Add egg and mashed bananas. Dissolve baking soda in sour milk. Alternately stir in flour and sour milk. Fold in chopped walnuts.
Pour into a greased and floured 8" x 5" loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.