Classic Banana Bread

After my baking disaster last month, I'd somehow lost the will and the courage to bake again. Yes, I was afraid of failure and kept finding excuses not to bake. 

Yesterday, out of an impulse, and also because I had finished cooking dinner very early, I decided to bake something simple - Banana Bread. I've always cooked with an electric oven and the last time around was the first time I worked with a gas oven. I am still not very sure about the temperature control and the baking time in this oven and I guess I will need time and practice to understand it better. Probably the reason why I flopped last time. 

Anyway this time around, I went with my intuition and ta da!! It baked to perfection and also brought back some well needed confidence. 

This is the easiest, "throw everything into a bowl and mix" sort of a recipe for banana bread. I didn't have walnuts at hand so I used chopped almonds instead. It came out pretty moist and not too dense. 

Here it goes!

Ingredients:

2 large ripe bananas (use 3 if they are small in size)
1/3 cup butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour/Maida
2 eggs 
a handful of chopped walnuts (I used almonds and it tasted similar. Also, this is optional but adding it makes a whole lot of tasty difference!)
3/4th cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
a few drops of vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Peel and mash the bananas. In a large mixing bowl, add the mashed bananas and butter. Whisk till consistent. Then add sugar and whisk again. Then lightly beat the eggs and add them into the batter. add the vanilla extract and incorporate. Finally, sift the flour, baking soda and salt and then add it into the batter. Fold to incorporate the whole batter and do not over mix. Finally fold in the chopped almonds. Pre heat the oven to 350 degree F or 180 degree C for about 8-10 min.

Grease a bread pan with butter and then pour the batter into it. Level the surface of the batter and then bake for 45-50 min. Serve, hot or refrigerate for the next day.