October 24, 2022

VEGAN RECIPE REVIEW: Banana Bread


I realize that banana bread recipes are a dime a dozen, so I was unsure whether to even review one for this vegan recipe series. However, I've been eating bananas like crazy lately and I only like them when they are *barely* yellow. Even if they still have a hint of green, that's my preference. The last time I went shopping, I was overambitious and I bought too many bananas that have since gotten way too ripe for my liking.

There are lots of recipes using old bananas that I can find, but banana bread is just SO GOOD. It doesn't matter if it's cliché or overused; everybody loves banana bread. I wanted to find a recipe for one that wasn't from a site I'd already tried before when making other recipes. And that's how I came up with this: The Perfect Vegan Banana Bread by The Baking Fairy. (I will link to it again at the end of the post)

Interestingly, this banana bread is "accidentally" vegan--she did not develop the recipe to be vegan. She has only been vegan since 2019, so a lot of her older recipes are not. This recipe looked so simple that I wondered how it could possibly be "the perfect" vegan banana bread--which made me decide to try to find out.

There were very few ingredients:


Bananas, vegetable oil, non-dairy milk, brown sugar, vanilla extract, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. (I liked that it called for four bananas, because that's how many I needed to use). And yes, Jerry scratched "I love you" on the side of one banana--he knows that as it ripens, the words turn brown. Just a little love note for me :)

First, you start with preparing the pan. I have a good non-stick loaf pan, so I didn't think the cooking spray and flour was necessary, but I did it anyway (per the directions). Then preheat the oven.


The batter would be very easy to make without an electric stand mixer, but my carpal tunnel has been pretty bad since I started working on remodeling the bathroom, and I can use as much help as I can get when it comes to my hands. So, I used my stand mixer.

You start by mashing the bananas by themselves. I didn't totally purée them--I like them to have a little texture.


Then, you add in the wet ingredients: brown sugar, oil, non-dairy milk, and vanilla extract. 


I set it on medium for a minute or so, before moving on to the dry ingredients. It doesn't specify to mix the dry ingredients together first, but I didn't want clumps of baking soda in there, so I just stirred it together for a minute before putting the dry ingredients into the mixer. I turned it on medium again, just enough to get the ingredients to come together (the recipe specified not to over-mix it).


Then I poured it into the prepared pan. Compared to other recipes I've made, this was a very small amount of batter. I kind of figured this would be the case when I saw the measurements of the ingredients, but I figured that would be a good thing--at least I wouldn't pig out on a huge loaf of banana bread. The pan could probably hold double the amount of batter, though!


After 45 minutes, you cover it with foil to continue baking. This is what it looked liked before putting the foil on:


When I pulled it out of the oven and removed the foil, it looked like I would expect banana bread to look. And I inserted a toothpick into the center, which came out clean. The recipe didn't specify anything after that--whether to leave it in the pan to cool, remove it to a rack... I had no idea. I just let it cool about 15 minutes in the pan until I could handle it by moving it to a rack to finish cooling.


And for the taste? For the few number of ingredients, it was surprisingly very flavorful! The large ratio of bananas made it more banana-y (if that makes any sense at all). It was moist and not too airy (I prefer dense banana bread rather than the light and fluffy kind).

My only complaint was that the top wasn't crusty. My very favorite part of banana bread is the very top, where it's crusty without tasting burnt. Usually, I'll cut the sides and bottom off of a piece, so I have just the middle and the crusty top. This loaf, however, was soft all over--the bottom, sides, and top were soft. It was good! But if you're like me, you would miss that crusty top. In the picture, it looks like it has that crusty top, but it was actually just as soft as the middle.


I think this may have been due to putting the foil over it for the last 10 minutes. That would create a bit of steam and make top soft. I might try this recipe again and skip the foil to see what happens.

This loaf didn't even last the whole day in my house, though! With a husband, two teen boys, and banana-bread-loving me, it was gone almost immediately. I have to say, though, the size is perfect for when you have a craving for banana bread but you don't want to have a huge loaf lying around tempting you.

A big winner in my book! (My family agrees.) Again, here is a link to the recipe: The Perfect Vegan Banana Bread by The Baking Fairy

1 comment:

  1. Oh my. I fear I'd eat the whole pan! Looks and sounds so yummy.

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