Weekend Baking - Banana and Cinnamon Bread

I used to bake regularly, as I've been ill for a while this hasn't happened although I've spent plenty of time thinking about what to bake next. After the pretzel baking last weekend my urge to bake is coming back and I've vowed to do a little bit of baking, hopefully, once a week.

I had some bananas that were very ripe, too ripe for me to eat but perfect for baking so I decided to bake some banana and cinnamon bread.

Banana and Cinnamon Bread Ingredients to make 2 loaves - (roughly) 10 slices per loaf Gas Mark 5 (190°C/375°F) 30 minutes preparation time

• 380g strong white bread flour (Usually I would use wholemeal flour but forgot to pick some up)
• 2tsp baking powder 
• 4tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1tsp nutmeg
• 1tsp salt
• 3 medium eggs
• 3 ripe bananas (medium to large)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 125ml sunflower oil
• 200g caster sugar
• 100g muscovado (or any soft brown) sugar
• 2tsp vanilla extract (not flavouring)
• butter for greasing

As with the pretzel recipe I've worked out nutritional value using MyFitnessPal with the ingredients shown in the photo above and based on the loaves being sliced into 20 portions - this doesn't include butter spread on the bread though! 

203 Calories 31g Carbohydrates 7g Fat 1g Saturated Fat 4g Protein

I prefer to get the preparation done first, everything measured out and combined where possible. 

• First I start by mixing the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl before leaving to one side.
• Next I prepare the banana mix by placing peeled bananas in a bowl and using the back of a fork to smush them into a paste. 
• In a mug I beat the eggs and add the zest and juice of one lemon before combining with the bananas

• Once the bananas and egg mix are combined add both the sugars gradually then mix in the vanilla extract and oil. Once this is done it should look like the last photo in the collage above, a sloppy mess.

• Time to return to the bowl with the flour mix in, slowly combine the banana gloop with the flour mix, make sure there are no dry patches but avoid beating too much as this can leave the finished product too chewy. The consistency of the mix should be that of a cake.
• Divide the mix into two lb loaf tins, or, if like me, whatever you have to hand that looks about right. These tins don't need baking paper instead grease with a bit of butter and sprinkle with a bit of flour, tap the tins to spread the flour so you have a nice even coating. 
• Place in a pre-heated oven for 40-50 minutes but keep an eye on them. As you would with a cake use a skewer to check to see if there are any gooey parts but it is also obvious when they are done, as you can see in the photo below the loaf pulls away from the sides and simply slips out.

Well that's it, rather simple, just leave to cool on a wire rack before slicing and eating. Serve on its own or with butter - with butter is my personal preference as it reminds me of the lovely puddings we had in primary school.