Beautiful Banana Loaf

Banana Loaf


Ingredients: (Large loaf will make about 12 big slices)


100g butter (unsalted and soft. Dairy free alternative works fine)
140g light muscovado sugar (brown is fine - dark or light)
2 eggs (large)
450g bananas (ripe / overripe and mashed with a fork)
50g pecan nuts (chopped - recipe will work without nuts if you have an allergy - add another banana)
50g raisins
150 ml buttermilk (This does work with soya milk but the texture is slightly different - go with sweetened!)
280g plain flour (Gluten free is fine)
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda


You will need:

A big bowl / a whisk (hand or electric) / a wooden spoon / a loaf tin (2lb and greased*)

Method:

1. Whisk butter and sugar together in a big bowl by hand or using an electric whisk.

2. Beat in eggs one at a time with a wooden spoon.

3. Stir in mashed bananas, pecans, raisins and buttermilk with wooden spoon.

4. Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl and fold** carefully.

5. Spoon into a large loaf tin and level the top with the back of the spoon.

6. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees (160 fan oven) for 75 minutes (1 hour 15 minutes). Poke a skewer into the centre and remove - it should come out almost dry with a very little bit of goo on it.

7. Cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then turn onto a cooling rack and cover with a clean tea towel.
 
If you want to make the loaf look pretty, take 50g Icing sugar and make a little water icing. Drizzle this over the top of the loaf in zigzags. Nomnomnom!

* Greasing just means get some butter (or alternative) and use a bit of greaseproof paper to wipe it around the inside of the tin, making sure to get in all the corners.

** A word about terms for mixing! 'Whisk' means use a fork / whisk / electric whisk to mix together fast and trying to add air to the mixture - think fluffy. 'Beat' means use a wooden spoon and stir the mixture hard so it goes smooth - think no lumps. 'Fold' means use a metal spoon (or wooden but metal seems to be best) and gently combine the ingredients - this is used when you want to keep the mixture light. Make a figure of eight with the spoon in the bowl and try to include the outside of the mixture. When folding think - no more than 15 stirs.