Banana bread

• 3very ripe bananas · heavily speckled, about 1 1/2 cups mashed
• 2large eggs · room temperature
• 1/3 cupextra-virgin olive oil · or melted coconut oil
• 1/4 cuppure maple syrup
• 1 tspvanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cupswhite whole-wheat flour
• 1 tspbaking soda
• 1/2 tspbaking powder
• 1/2 tspkosher salt
• 1 1/2 tspground cinnamon
• 1/2 cupwalnuts · chopped, optional

Methode

1. 1

   The bananas have to be nearly black

   In a loaf with no refined sugar, ripeness is the whole game. Heavily speckled to black skins mean the starch has turned to sugar. Yellow-with-a-few-spots is not ripe enough and no amount of maple syrup will fix the flat flavor.

2. 2

   Measure the mash, don't count bananas

   Bananas vary wildly in size. You want 1 1/2 cups of mash, roughly three large or four small. Too much and the center never sets; too little and the loaf is dry. Mash into a measuring cup so you can see exactly where you are.

3. 3

   Whisk the wet in one bowl, whisk the dry in another

   The classic muffin method. Bananas, eggs, oil, maple and vanilla in one bowl; flour, soda, powder, salt and cinnamon in the other. Combining them fully mixed prevents pockets of baking soda that taste soapy.

4. 4

   Fold, don't beat

   Once the flour goes in, switch to a spatula and fold just until you can't see dry streaks. Fifteen strokes, not fifty. Overmixing develops the gluten in the whole-wheat flour and turns a tender loaf tough and rubbery.

5. 5

   White whole-wheat, not regular whole-wheat

   White whole-wheat is milled from a paler wheat, so you get the fiber without the heavy, tannic taste that makes some whole-grain baking feel like a punishment. Regular whole-wheat works but tastes noticeably denser. All-purpose works too if that's what you have.

6. 6

   Rest the batter 10 minutes before it goes in

   Whole-wheat flour drinks up liquid slowly. A ten-minute rest lets the bran hydrate so the crumb bakes even and moist instead of grainy. Use that time to toast the walnuts, which wakes up their flavor.

7. 7

   Bake at 350°F and tent at the 35-minute mark

   The natural sugars in banana and maple brown fast. If the top is dark by minute 35 but a skewer still comes out wet, lay a loose sheet of foil over it and keep baking. This is the fix for the burnt-top, raw-middle problem everyone hits.

8. 8

   Test with a skewer in two spots

   The center of a banana loaf is the last thing to set and can read done at the edges while still gummy in the middle. Probe the true center; a few moist crumbs are fine, wet batter is not. Total time runs 50 to 60 minutes.

9. 9

   Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then on a rack

   Straight out of the oven the loaf is still setting and will tear if you turn it out. Ten minutes in the pan, then onto a wire rack so the bottom doesn't steam and go soggy. It slices cleanest fully cooled.

10. 10

    It's better on day two

    Like most quick breads, the flavor deepens overnight as the moisture redistributes. Wrap the cooled loaf and leave it on the counter; it's noticeably more banana-forward the next morning. Keeps three days wrapped, or freeze slices for three months.