Mrs. Lyon's Banana Bread

A heritage banana bread recipe stripped to its essentials, the kind that gets passed from neighbor to neighbor on a recipe card. Three ripe bananas, one bowl, and an hour in the oven yield a loaf with a sweet caramelized crust and a moist tender crumb that needs no nuts, spices, or chocolate chips to be worth eating.

The banana ratio is what matters. Three full-size very ripe bananas to a cup of sugar gives this loaf its banana-forward flavor without leaning syrupy sweet. Underripe bananas miss the mark, the sugars haven’t developed enough yet.

Cream the margarine and sugar properly before adding eggs. The light fluffy stage is what keeps the bread from baking into a brick.

Pro Tips

• Use bananas with deep brown spotting, the spottier the sweeter, near-black is even better
• Mash the bananas to a smooth purée rather than chunky lumps unless you like banana pockets
• Test for doneness with a toothpick at 50 minutes, ovens vary and overbaked banana bread dries out fast
• Cool 15 minutes in the pan, then turn out, warm bread crumbles, fully cool slices clean

Variations

• Stir in ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans for traditional banana nut bread
• Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg for a spiced version
• Replace ¼ cup of the flour with cocoa powder for a chocolate banana bread