Banana bread checks all the comforting baked good boxes: It’s sweet, soothing, and saves once-fresh fruit from ruin. And unlike other popular baking projects (like homemade yeasted bread or from-scratch sourdough starter), banana bread bears almost no intimidation factor. Whether you’re Dame Mary Berry or have never baked a day in your life, you can probably pull off this scrumptious loaf. However, there are easy ways to upgrade your loaf to nail that perfectly moist and tender texture. Here are our top tips for baking banana bread. To really go above and beyond, weigh your ingredients, flour in particular, to make sure you nail the proportions. Also, allow your butter to come to room temperature before mixing it in, so it’ll more readily whip into an airy texture. If you’d like to boost the nutritional value of your bread, you can also use whole wheat flour or a combination of white and wheat. Just keep in mind that your bread will have a denser texture if you use whole wheat flour. When you’re ready to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients, create a shallow well in the center of your dry flour mixture and pour the wet over it. Then use a rubber spatula or spoon to gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together until the flour is just moistened. If there are a few lumps left behind in the batter, resist the urge to overmix.
