This Old-fashioned Banana Bread recipe is easy to follow and delivers a flavour-packed cafe-style loaf. It's perfect served warm with a little butter.
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Better than Donna Hay Banana Bread!
One of the most popular recipes for Banana Bread is Donna Hay's.
It's a great recipe, but here are 5 quick reasons why you'll love this one more:
- No need to use a mixer with Nana Ling's Banana Bread recipe
- A couple less ingredients required
- Slightly lighter texture
- A special ingredient to balance the sweetness
- Less time required for baking.
The original recipe
This Banana Bread recipe comes from a late 1960s recipe pamphlet issued by the Sydney County Council. It's a time when home cooks were experimenting with their "modern electric" ovens.
The pamphlet below contains 10 basic recipes which were demonstrated at Sydney County Council's showrooms.
One of those recipes was Banana Bread, and I found it to be a simply, tasty recipe that contained an ingredient we don't often see included in recipes today – lemon zest.
The zest wasn't overpowering at all, but rounds out the flavour nicely and contrasts with the sweetness nicely.
I've tweaked the original recipe slightly, updated the measurements and included step-by-step instructions and tips, so keep scrolling through to the recipe card at the bottom of the past.
Ingredients
The ingredients for this recipe are:
- SR flour (or plain/all purpose flour and baking powder)
- bicarb soda
- salt
- butter
- brown or caster sugar (you'll see caster sugar pictured below, however I tend to use brown sugar these days for a deeper flavour)
- lemon zest
- egg
- milk
- mashed bananas.
Optional ingredients are:
- cinnamon
- walnuts.
See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for ingredient measurements.
TIP: The most important thing about the ingredients is to make sure you use VERY RIPE bananas. The riper the better! You can also freeze your overripe bananas and then thaw them out to use in this recipe.
How to make Banana Bread
You don't need a mixer to make this Banana Bread, just a loaf tin, mixing bowl, large spoon and a "modern electric" oven.
Prepping
To start, pre-heat the oven to moderate, 180 degrees celsius/355 degrees fahrenheit (fan-forced).
Mixing
Sift the flour, salt, bicarb soda and cinnamon (if adding) into a mixing bowl. Rub butter into this mixture.
Add the sugar, lemon rind and walnuts (if adding) and stir through until combined.
Mash the bananas well and then add the mashed banana, beaten egg and milk. Stir through until just combined.
TIP: Take care not to overmix or beat the mixture as this can ruin texture.
Next, pour the mixture into the greased tin and smooth out the top a little.
Baking
Bake for 35 minutes or until a golden brown colour.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Storage and Freezing
Allow to cool completely and then wrap in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container at room temperature. It should last a few days.
Banana Bread freezes well. Slice it up, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze in portions. It can then be thawed out, piece by piece, and enjoyed over a few months.
Recipe FAQs
The baking time is 35 minutes or until the loaf is a lovely golden brown colour.
Do not open the oven door until you're fairly certain the Banana Bread is cooked. Opening the door too early can result in a loaf that dips in the middle.
Also resist the temptation to stick a skewer in the loaf to see if it's done – unless you want to risk seeing your loaf sink in a few seconds. Instead, lightly tough the top to feel for firmness – it should keep its shape and bounce back.
The best way to gauge whether your loaf is cooked is by looking at the time and the colour of the loaf.
Allow cake to cool to a warm temperature before slicing a few pieces and enjoying with a little butter.
Want more banana recipes?
Check these out:
Banana Bread Recipe
Equipment
- 24 x 14cm loaf tin
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup SR flour (or 1 ¾ cup plain/all purpose flour + 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon bicarb soda
- 60 grams butter (chopped into cubes)
- ¾ cup brown or castor sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (from approx ½ lemon)
- 1 egg (beaten)
- ¾ cup mashed banana (from approx 2 medium or 3 small bananas)
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Grease a loaf tin (24 x 14cm) and line with baking paper.
- Pre-heat oven to moderate, 180 degrees celsius/355 degrees fahrenheit (fan-forced).
- Sift flour, salt, bicarb soda and cinnamon (if adding) into a mixing bowl. Rub butter into this mixture.
- Add sugar, lemon rind and walnuts (if adding) and stir through until combined.
- Add beaten egg, mashed bananas and milk. Stir through until just combined. Do not overmix or beat the mixture.
- Pour mixture into tin and smooth out the top a little.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a golden brown colour.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Notes
Do not open the oven door until you're fairly certain the Banana Bread is cooked. Opening the door too early can result in a loaf that dips in the middle.
Also resist the temptation to stick a skewer in the loaf to see if it's done – unless you want to risk seeing your loaf sink in a few seconds. Instead, lightly tough the top to feel for firmness – it should keep its shape and bounce back.
The best way to gauge whether your loaf is cooked is by looking at the time and the colour of the loaf. Nutrition: The nutrition information is an automatically generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate. Tips: The most important thing about the ingredients is to make sure you use VERY RIPE bananas. The riper the better! You can also freeze your overripe bananas and then thaw them out to use in this recipe.
Alex says
Will have to try to banana bread
Annette Gannaway says
Hi Libby,
I had a few banana's that was starting to look sad, your recipe for banana bread had perfect timing.
I only had whole meal SR flour on hand and it worked fine.
I whipped this up Saturday morning for morning tea. It was a hit. Everyone liked it.
I have a few banana bread recipes, this one is so easy but I must admit I was skeptical while I was mixing the wet and dry ingredients together I did not know how I was going 'pour' the ingredients, it looked too dry! it all came together in the end.
This recipe is going straight to the trophy room.
Annette 🙂
Libby Hakim says
Hi Annette - amazing! Thank you so much for your wonderful review. I actually might add that in as a tip about the dryness of the mix as that concerned me a little too. Thanks again and happy cooking x