Sour Cream Banana Bread isn't a very Valentine's Dayish recipe, but if you happen to have some over-ripe bananas, I think you'll appreciate it.
The recipe calls for sour cream for tenderness and bread flour for structure. It is is a tight crumbed, moist, high rising loaf designed for an 8 ½ by 4 ½ or 9x5 inch loaf pan. I prefer using 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch pans because I like the appearance of loaves that are tall and narrow rather than stubby.
Sour Cream Banana Bread -- Bread Flour
Of course you can always stick with all-purpose flour, but I recently discovered that bread flour makes the banana bread less crumbly and gives you neater slices. So if you are looking for a way to use ripe bananas and happen to have some bread flour, why not experiment and see if you can detect the difference in texture?
And one last photo. You can make the loaves "normal" size, or use mini loaf pans.
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Recipe
Sour Cream Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened 4 ounces/114 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar or use ½ cup brown and ½ cup white
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups bread flour or all-purpose (weigh if possible) (210 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt reduce to half if using salted butter
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas about 3 (sometimes 4 or up to 11 oz weight)
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup toasted and chopped walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan or use an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan for a slightly taller loaf.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy.
- With mixer on low speed, beat in the eggs one at a time. Increase speed to high and beat for 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla.
- In a second bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the batter and stir by hand until mixed. Stir in the bananas, then stir in the sour cream and nuts.
- Pour into the pan (make sure to leave at least an inch for it to rise, so not quite full) and bake for 55 minutes to an hour or until a meat thermometer inserted in the center registers between 205 and 210.
Notes
You can also halve the recipe and make a rather petite but nice 8x4 inch loaf. If you do this, check the bread at 40 minutes. A Bundt pan may also be used, but make sure to grease and flour it very well. And finally, this bread is also good with melted butter. If you use melted butter you can skip the electric mixer and just beat everything together with a spoon.
Anna says
Yes, I think it does. It gives it a firmer and more bread-like structure. If getting away from "cakey" is your goal, but you want a rich, not-too-crumbly but dense banana bread, I recommend using a recipe that calls for oil. The one above is good, but you may like this one a little better.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/2017/02/banana-bread-with-sour-cream-and-oil/
Inci @ Bella's Apron says
Does the bread flour take away from the "cakey" ness of the bread?
I'm going to have to buy some bread flour now. I do have some sad looking bananas...
Sue says
This makes excellent banana bread. It is moist, flavorful, tender and slices neatly without being crumbly. Mine looked just like the picture. I used bread flour. I'm so glad you posted about this on Facebook recently because I had some sour cream to use up. Perfect timing!