Banana Bread

Directions

1. 1
   Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. 2
   Lightly butter or spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch loaf pan.
3. 3
   Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute, or until the sugar is completely mixed into the butter.
4. 4
   Add the eggs and mix for 1 minute, or until the batter is smooth.
5. 5
   Add the bananas and mix for 1 minute, or until no large chunks remain.
6. 6
   The batter will be lumpy, but the pieces of banana should all be 1/2 inch or smaller.
7. 7
   Add the baking soda and salt and mix on low speed for 1 minute, or until combined.
8. 8
   Add the flour and mix on low speed for 1 minute, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally, until all of the flour is incorporated.
9. 9
   Stir in the walnuts.
10. 10
    Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 15 minutes.
11. 11
    Reduce the oven heat to 350F and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
12. 12
    Remove the bread from the pan and place it on a cooling rack.
13. 13
    (If you let the bread cool in the pan, the bottom will become soggy.)
14. 14
    The process of mixing the butter and sugar until it is thoroughly combined is called creaming.
15. 15
    It can be done by hand, but in most cases it is done with an electric mixer.
16. 16
    As part of my constant effort to find shortcuts in cooking, I decided I could save a lot of time by just mixing all of the banana bread ingredients at the same time.
17. 17
    I was right, it was faster.
18. 18
    The bread was perfect!
19. 19
    For a doorstop.
20. 20
    My mom explained that wet ingredients are added first is so they can be thoroughly combined before the dry ingredients, especially flour, are added.
21. 21
    When flour is mixed with liquid, it activates the gluten in the flour and the more the gluten is mixed, the more elastic it becomes.
22. 22
    The elasticity in the flour holds down the gas bubbles formed by the baking soda and keeps the bread from rising, making one very hard and dense loaf.
23. 23
    And I do mean very hard and dense.