I've never tasted a bad loaf of banana bread, but that doesn't mean mistakes can't happen.
I set out to see if it was possible to mess up the iconic breakfast cake (the answer is yes, it is very possible) by making twelve versions of banana bread using the same recipe, while tweaking the ingredients in each one to see what would happen.
For this experiment, I looked into several recipes from chefs and celebrities to find the most basic, easy-to-follow recipe that required the most common ingredients, and settled on Joanna Gaines' recipe for fresh banana bread. The Magnolia founder's recipe calls for flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract, and very ripe bananas.
When it came to deciding which errors I would make, I looked into some of the most common baking mistakes and thought about my own mishaps as an amateur baker. Then, I started baking and recorded what happened as I went through the list.
Mistakes included:
-
- Not using enough flour;
- Packing my flour and using too much of it;
- Using too many eggs;
- Leaving out eggs completely;
- Mistaking baking powder for baking soda;
- Not using enough butter;
- Using too much butter;
- Forgetting to melt my butter;
- Not using enough sugar;
- Using too much sugar;
- Adding extra bananas;
- Using an unripe banana.
Here's how the banana bread turned out in the case of each mistake made (you can click on the image below to make it larger):
I know from experience that banana bread freezes extremely well. Even still, what would I have done with 12 full-sized banana bread loaves in my freezer? To cut down on leftovers and in an effort to minimize food waste and use the smallest amount of ingredients I could, I quartered the recipe's measurements and used miniature loaf tins.
That means instead of 12 sticks of butter, I used three; instead of around 54 bananas, I used 12; and instead of 24 eggs, I used six.
The mistakes I'd be cautious of making again are swapping out baking soda for baking powder and not using enough sugar as both really negatively affected the flavor of the bread, in my opinion; I found that baking powder gave it an artificial taste while skimping on the sugar totally muted the flavor.
But, through this process, my hypothesis of "the more bananas, the better the bread" was confirmed. In fact, I would recommend adding an additional, very ripe banana as well as one unripe banana for the best fruit effect. That combo will leave you with a super moist, flavorful, and deliciously chunky loaf.
Now, all I have to do is find a way to use all the banana bread taking over my freezer. But hey, I'm not complaining!
Read the full story to find out how every banana bread loaf tasted here >
Insider has more baking experiments like this in the works. Send suggestions for baked goods you would like to see us try to raskinasi@insider.com.
- Read more:
- Photos show how common baking mistakes can drastically change your banana bread
- Photos show how common baking mistakes can drastically change your chocolate-chip cookies
- 15 ingredients to add to your banana bread that are not walnuts or chocolate chips
- Photos of home bakers' bread fails show all the things that can go wrong, from leaky batter to flat rolls
