Best Sourdough Banana Bread
PUBLISHED ON: 02.16.2024
If you are following my new adventures with Herman my sourdough you will not be disappointed in this banana bread recipe. I admit Herman is complicated, alive, and he’s beginning to feel like a member of the family.
There are a million ways to make banana bread. I feel like I have made so many versions in my lifetime without adopting one as my tried and true, until now. This is hands down the very best banana bread I have ever eaten.
If you are not nurturing a sourdough starter, you can replace the sourdough discard in this recipe with an equal amount of buttermilk.
Grab a few overripe bananas and make this moist, flavorful banana bread. You may want to make an extra loaf to share, and another loaf to freeze.
Best Sourdough Banana Bread
Recipe from King Arthur
Ingredients:
8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
2/3 cup (142 grams) light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1 3/4 cups (397 grams) mashed ripe banana, from 1 3/4 pounds unpeeled bananas
1/4 cup (85 grams) honey
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (113 grams) sourdough starter unfed/discard
** Note replacing sourdough discard with equal part of buttermilk will work.
2 cups (240 grams) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup (85 grams) chopped nuts, optional
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan
In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, beating until smooth.
Add the mashed bananas, honey, eggs, and sourdough starter, again beating until smooth.
Add the flour then the nuts, stirring just until smooth.
Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top. Let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Bake the bread for 45 minutes, then gently lay a piece of aluminum foil across the top to prevent over-browning.
Bake for an additional 25 minutes (20 minutes if you’re baking in a tea loaf pan). Remove the bread from the oven; a long toothpick or thin paring knife inserted into the center should come out clean, with a few wet crumbs clinging to it. The tester shouldn’t show any sign of uncooked batter. If it does, bake the bread an additional 5 minutes, or until it tests done.
Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove it from the pan and cool completely on a rack.
Store leftover bread, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.
Judith Graber
I love to work with sourdough but haven’t in awhile – I have so many recipes already. Banana bread sounds like the perfect use for it – I bet it’s delicious – I could eat this loaf all on my own 🙂
angiesrecipes
Baked something similar before, so I know how delicious this could be! Yours looks excellent.
Pauline McNee
This really looks good and I love baking with sourdough. I’m presuming from your recipe that I could use sourdough straight from my mother jar in this recipe. It doesn’t need to be fermented over a couple of days. Thanks, great recipe.
Eva Taylor
We usually eat all the bananas before they get over-ripe so next time I have bananas in the house, I’ll throw a few in the freezer to ripen them.
Larry
Looks delicious and I’m sure sourdough will give it a unique flavor- nuts are not optional for me.
jeanie
Oh my! I’ll have to pass this on to my resident breadmaker (Rick) — it sounds wonderful! Seems we always have a banana or two that are a tad past their prime!
Jordan Hunter
This looks so good that I’m almost inspired to try sourdough!
Thao @ In Good Flavor
This is a beautiful loaf of bread!! I’m sure the sourdough adds that special something-something buttermilk just can’t.
David Scott Allen
Making banana bread with sourdough is such a great idea! While I don’t dislike banana bread, I do think that your version would be so much better thanks to the sourdough. I love your newfound passion for Herman.
Jena Grignon
That banana bread is simply amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Ronit
This banana bread looks delicious!
Thanks for the mentioning the option of using buttermilk instead of sourdough starter.
sherry
We are not fans of bananas in our household (ironically since Queenslanders are known as banana benders!) But I don’t mind a bit of banana bread. This sounds tasty.
Tandy | Lavender and Lime
My sourdough is sitting in my fridge waiting for new recipes to try! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Jeff the Chef
I’ve never had a sourdough banana bread. In fact, I don’t think I’ve had any kind of sourdough quickbread. I wouldn’t’ve thought it was something one could do. Bravo!
Ben | Havocinthekitchen
Oh my goodness, this banana bread looks absolutely gorgeous! I never would have thought of using sourdough starter for making sweet bread, but I think it’s a genius idea – at least it looks phenomenal!
Marcelle
Velva, this is the prettiest banana bread I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some banana bread! 🙂 I wish I could taste it. I tried my hand at sour dough started years ago, I think it’s time to try it again. Thanks for this lovely recipe!