The Banana Bread Experiment

Banana bread confuses me if I think about it too much. I start trying to think of other breads I've had with fruit in them. When I can't come up with any I start trying to figure out ways to invent one. Strawberry rye? Orange loaf? Sounds awful. But somehow banana bread has become an American staple.

Banana Bread

I grew up on banana bread and loved it my whole life. My mom still makes a loaf when I'm in town sometimes, served hot with butter, and it's pretty much perfect. I had a few rotting bananas on the shelf last week and decided to try an experiment: mom's banana bread vs. Mark Bittman's. I looked through my books and Bittman's version in How To Cook Everything looked like it had the best chance of beating my mother's hallowed recipe.

By the way, all of the books had recipes closer to Bittman's than my mom's. So you know this thing was fair.

Mom's ingredients:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 medium sized bananas - total 1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup walnuts (optional)


Bittman's ingredients:

1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup grated dried unsweetened coconut


The instructions for the two recipes are pretty much the same:


Mix dry ingredients. Cream liquid ingredients and gently stir into dry ingredients. Bake in a loaf pan at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle pulls out clean.


Now, my mom says she stuck with this recipe because it was the first banana bread she'd ever had that didn't taste like baking powder. Hers uses baking soda, while Bittman's uses powder, but I didn't notice any taste of it in his bread. He says this is his favorite because of the little something extra added by the coconut, another reason I chose this recipe over any of the others. Figured if they're all pretty much the same, I might as well go with the one that has something extra.

They were fantastic:

Once the breads were baked I started the experiment. Each person got a plate with four pieces of bread on it. One slice of my mom's was cut in half with one side going on the plate dry and the other piece buttered. One slice of Bittman's was cut in half, one piece dry, one piece toasted with peanut butter, the way he says he likes it best. And the test was on.

My feelings on the subject were obvious. My mom's recipe turned out much more moist and had excellent, really strong banana flavor. Bittman's was good, but it was dry and bland in comparison. The coconut certainly didn't hurt anything, but it didn't add enough to justify it's place. If I want coconut I'll make a cake. This is banana bread, and I'll take mine with butter.

Knowing it's always possible I'm eating with a trained tongue, I kept my opinion to myself until everyone else chimed in. I was sure not to give them any clues as to which bread belonged to who, also. Don't want anybody throwing the vote to my mom in hopes of getting seconds.

In the end it was agreed that the softer, stronger flavored recipe I grew up on was the best. The one dissenter was my friend Birbal, and he's a too-cool-for-school type who's prone to dissent for dissents sake. Turns out he doesn't really like bananas but loves coconut. On that criteria, fine.

In the picture above my mom's banana bread is leaning on Bittman's in victory. I always said her book would be the best.