BANANA BREAD

This has been a family favourite for a while. Had a glut of bananas recently (Alan and I really should talk to each other when we both food shop!) and decided to try a different recipe. Leelee had mentioned that she had made Banana Bread and it was fantastic and I always think mine is pretty good, not fantastic! So, went to my usual source, Epicurious.com and found this recipe with rave reviews. Sorry Aunty Elaine who supplied the passed down, family recipe, I think I am going to be making this new one from now on!

UPDATE: Having made this many times now I have a few notes:

• It is really important to have really ripe bananas and to mash them, not just chop them.  I have learned the hard way!  I found it affects the cooking time a lot if the bananas are not ripe enough, the less ripe the bananas are the less cooking time you need. Once I realised this is seems pretty logical as the riper they are the moister they are.

• Even if you have overripe bananas, you need to cook it for less time than the recipe says.  Hard to say exactly how much less as my 2 loaf pans are both a different size from what this calls for, but probably at least 15 minutes before the given time I would take it out and check it.

• the order of the recipe annoys me.  First, turn on the oven, immediately put the walnuts in to roast.  Then whisk the eggs and sugar which takes 10 minutes,  during which time you can be sifting the flour etc.
• I added an improvement by accident one day!  I had mashed the bananas in 2 bowls, I think Joseph was helping when he was little.  Anyway, once I had put the mixture into the loaf pans I spotted the bowl with half of the bananas that I had not yet added.  Improvising, I added them at that point, scattered them across the top of the loaf and used a knife to mix them in as best I could.  The whole family LOVED these loaves, they had extra gooey bits of banana through the middle and that's how I have made them ever since.  I have often wondered how many wonderful dishes have been created or improved by accidents.

Apart from that it is still my go-to banana bread recipe!