The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

How to make banana bread to bake through?

jerrry94087's picture
jerrry94087

How to make banana bread to bake through?

I periodically make banana bread, basically replacing water in bread with blendered banas and adding spices.  http://delightsbites.blogspot.com/2011/02/best-banana-bread.html

I usually add much more flour compared to what recipe calls for (they call for 4 bananas + 2 cups flour), but the dough tends to be very moisturous even after adding more flower.

Challenge is that if the dough is a bit too moisturous or the loaf is too large (I multiply all ingredients by 2), it doesn't bake through in 45 minutes @ 350F. Liquid dough stays inside. Yesterday I tried to bake larger loaf, and even though I added a lot more flour it didn't bake through just because of the larger size.

How to solve this problem that larger loaf doesn't bake through?

fminparis's picture
fminparis

Obviously give it more time.  Nothing is etched in stone, there are no rules.  If a hamburger was raw in the middle, you would leave it on the grill longer.  If the cake, bread etc isn't done, bake it longer.  Try an hour - see what happens.  If still unbaked, give it 75 minutes.

carefreebaker's picture
carefreebaker

Should go at least 50 minutes. Mine usually take 60 minutes. Also check your oven temp.

I don't understand why you are adding additional flour to the recipe. I usually add an extra banana to the recipe because I want a moist loaf.

PaddyL's picture
PaddyL

...before my allergy to bananas became seriously life-threatening, I made a mistake baking a loaf of it by using a dark coloured pan and it didn't bake all the way through.  After that, I always used light coloured pans and had no problems.  Now I have to keep a distance between that fruit and myself, especially if they're overripe.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

or a long narrow loaf pan.  

If the outside color is correct but the inside not baked thru, then the oven temp is too high.  Lower the temp and bake longer.  ...or cover the loaf to prevent it from overbrowning.   

It can also be that the added flour is keeping it from baking by weighing it down, did you add more baking powder too? 

Sounds like my recipe...   how does it compare?   Sometimes when doubling the recipe an ingredient gets lost.  Write the amounts down for double as well on a separate card or the flip side

Single recipe:

1 cup sifted AP flour (160g)

1/4c sugar  (50g)

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 medium ripe bananas  or 3/4 c 

1 large beaten egg  (or two small)

1/4 c melted butter (if salted do not add any salt to recipe)  (if you are melting sticks, 4 sticks to a pound, this would be 1/2 a stick)

1 Tbsp milk  (or sourcream or whisky or cream)

1/2 tsp vanilla

If I find the batter too runny (the riper the bananas the runnier it gets also hangs with egg amount or if I tip too much milk into the recipe) I will throw in a handfull of rolled oats to soak up moisture.  I also butter and dust the pan with bread crumbs, grated nuts or rolled oats.

This is actually a streusel coffee cake and sized for a 8 inch layer cake pan.  Bake 375°F (190°C) for aprox 25 min.

The streusel crumbs are divided and are sprinkled between batter layers and on top:

1/2 c brown sugar

3 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 Tbsp butter           cut together with a fork until crumbly.

I do not hesitate to throw in choco chips or roasted nuts or berries when they are around.  At the moment, Elderberries are ripe and I have some dried goji berries.  They would be just fine mixed into the streusel  or the batter  or both  or just half  or topped with melted white chocolate dribble.  Yum!

I better go do something else...