Banana Bread

First of all, I have to say that I hate nuts in baked goods so this recipe is nut free. To me nuts are a textural anomaly amongst the soft bread and I often go without dessert if there are nuts in what is being offered. I like raisins in banana bread so that is what I put in – feel free to substitute walnuts if that tickles your fancy. I added some wheat germ to this recipe mainly because I wanted something a little healthy in this treat.  I also substituted a bit of brown sugar because it has a bit more moisture and flavour which I thought would be nice with the addition of the wheat germ. It worked very well. I put butter on my banana bread so the wheat germ is kind of a token gesture to make this seem a little healthier. Ah well. The recipe does work without it, so you could leave it out if you wanted to.

The key to this banana bread is the mangy bananas – they need to have a lot more black on them than yellow. When my bananas are going off and I don’t have time or the inclination to make banana bread I will peel them and freeze them in Ziploc bags in pairs. They thaw quickly and make fantastic banana bread. If you try this, don’t drain off the liquid that seeps out. It looks gross, but it is important to the flavour and texture of the bread.

Ingredients
2 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/3 cup raisins

How-to
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a standard loaf pan. I like to use my food processor but a potato masher (for the bananas) and a wooden spoon works great as well. In a food processor puree the bananas, butter, lemon juice and sugar (brown and white) together. Add the eggs and milk and pulse the machine to combine. Add the dry ingredients and pulse gently until it is just combined. If you have a soft touch with your food processor you can add the raisins and mix them into the batter with the machine but if you are worried that you will chop them up too much then take the bowl part off the machine, remove the blade and mix them in with a spoon or spatula. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and spread it evenly in the pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 50 minutes. When a cake tester comes out clean it is done. Remove it from the loaf pan and let it cool on a rack (if you can wait).