I wish I knew who Martha was so I could thank her for her wonderful banana bread. I asked my Dad if he knew who she was when I was making the cookbook, and he didn't have a clue. I then asked my Aunt if she knew, she thought, but wasn't sure, she was a wife of a coworker of my Grandfather. I was keeping the cookbook a secret at the time and my Aunt did tell me that she had a wonderful banana bread recipe from her. So that was fun!
If you've never made bread before then banana bread is a wonderful primer into the bread world. It doesn't have as many difficult steps as making other types of bread and doesn't require proofing so it's a relatively quick bread. Plus it's a great way to get rid of any bananas that are slowly going bad on your counter.
This recipe, like many of my Grandmother's old recipes calls for shortening. I just use butter. If you're feeling fancy or have it handy you can use margarine or crisco, but I find that good ole fashioned butter does the job. Make sure and use unsalted butter for this one or the bread will get salty fast.
Before you start, make sure you go ahead and let your butter get up to room temperature if you're using butter. I generally give it about 30 minutes to get to room temperature, but an hour is great too. If you don't let it warm up a bit it will be miserable to mix.
I use a stand mixer when I make this bread, but a hand mixer and a bowel might honestly be a bit easier. In the bowl of the mixer combine the sugar and shortening and mix until it's mixed.
In a separate bowl crack the 2 eggs and beat them. I really just use a fork, you don't need to think too hard about this. Once they're beaten well, add them to your butter and sugar mixture.
Sift your flour and add it to the mixing bowl along with a teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of salt. This is why you wanted to use unsalted butter, otherwise it's gonna be a salty bread.
In a separate bowl, mash your bananas. This is why you want ripe, almost bad, bananas. So you can just push your fork into them until they just look like a disgusting blob. But the disgusting blob is going to add a bunch of moisture to your bread and will make it yummy.
The trick here is to use the right amount of bananas. Assess if you have larger bananas or smaller bananas. Use only 3 if you have larger ones and 4 if they're smaller. If you use too many bananas your bread will get too soggy, but if you don't use enough it'll be dry. And nobody wants that.
Fold the bananas into your mixture. To fold I use a spatula and gently turn it around the bananas. It protects the integrity of the mixture and doesn't break it up too much!
If you're feeling wild, here you can also add about a half a cup of chocolate chips and just fully commit to the dessert bread here. You won't regret it. It'll make the bread even better. Even if it doesn't make it healthier!
From there, pour it into a loaf pan and put it in your pre-heated oven (325 degrees) and let it cook for about 75 minutes. Once it's done, let it cool a bit and slice and serve it. Eat it with breakfast or as a snack during the day.
BANANA BREAD Martha
YIELDS: 1 LOAF | PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES | COOK TIME: 1 ¼ HOURS
1 cup sugar ½ cup shortening 2 eggs, well beaten 2 cups flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. salt 3 large or 4 small mashed bananas
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cream the sugar and shortening well.
2. Then add the eggs, sifted flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat well
3. Fold in mashed bananas.
4. Optional: Add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
5. Bake in a large loaf pan for 1 ¼ hours at 325 degrees.