Whole Banana Bread Recipe

Save the peels for this banana bread recipe. It’s perfectly tender and sweet, you’d never suspect there’s any peels at all. Implementing banana peels cuts down on waste and delivers extra nutrients such as fiber and antioxidants. You’ll also save on bananas overall since the peels add to the needed weight.

Prep time: 25 mins
Cook time: 75 mins
Total time: 100 mins
Servings: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

• 3 medium very ripe organic bananas, about 1 pound
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for greasing the loaf pan
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup (123g) whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup (123g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2/3 cup (72g) chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Prepare the bananas: Wash the bananas. Pinch off the stem and hard end of each banana and discard. Put the whole, unpeeled bananas in a bowl, and freeze them for at least 8 hours or overnight (or for several weeks, if you like!).
   Defrost them on the counter until very soft, at least 2 hours. Alternatively, defrost them in the microwave, about 3 minutes on the defrost setting.
2. Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with olive oil.
3. Purée the bananas: Purée the melted whole bananas in a food processor fitted with a metal blade for about 30 seconds. Some tiny brown bits will remain. You should have about 1 1/2 rounded cups of banana purée.
4. Mix the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the banana purée, brown sugar, maple syrup, olive oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth and blended.
5. Mix the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk the whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.
6. Combine the batter: Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and use a rubber spatula to combine just until blended with no streaks of dry flour. Add the walnuts and give it a few stirs.
7. Bake the banana bread: Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake until the bread is deeply brown and moist crumbs cling to a toothpick when inserted in the center, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. It rises into a lovely dome with some deep crags along the top.
8. Cool and serve: Let the banana bread cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges, tip the bread out of the pan onto a wire rack to continue cooling.

Source: Simply Recipes