Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Whole Wheat Banana Bread (Source: Maida Heatter's Cakes (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed., pg. 256) 

I would be willing to bet that Banana Bread is one of the most popular recipes around. Here in the Pacific Northwest in late summer, zucchini bread is equally as popular when they begin to ripen. 

For a long time now, I've been using Flour's recipe for Banana Bread as so many people claim it to be the best. It is good, however, I have always found it to be really heavy and on more than one occasion, it did not bake properly (it does have 1/2 cup of oil). I've been on a King Arthur phase lately and I recently tried their Whole Wheat Banana Bread recipe and I think it was one of the best I've made. 

Now I've finally tried Maida's recipe which uses both whole wheat and white flour as well as buttermilk. It tastes a lot like the King Arthur recipe and is delicious. I do believe I like the King Arthur recipe the best.

And finally, here is an additional tip that I learned in the past but can't remember where I found it - Combine 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the cake before you put it in the oven. It makes a crunchy topping that brings it up a notch. Delicious!

1 cup sifted all-purpose whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. mace
1 1/3 cups mashed bananas (about 3-4 ripe bananas)
1/4 cup buttermilk
4 oz. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter or spray a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Sift together both flours, baking soda, salt and mace and set aside.

Combine the bananas and the buttermilk.

Cream the butter and add the vanilla and the sugar.

Add the egg and beat well.

On low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the banana and milk mixture.

Stir in the lemon rind and the nuts.

Turn into the pan and smooth the top. (Add the sugar and cinnamon mixture I mentioned in the intro for added deliciousness).

Bake 50-55 minutes until a tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before removing from the pan.