Bon Appetit’s Best Banana Bread
Ingredients
- Nonstick vegetable oil spray
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp. kosher salt
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup mascarpone plain whole-milk Greek yogurt, or sour cream
- ¼ cup ½ stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 4 large very ripe bananas mashed (about 1½ cups)
- ½ cup chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate optional
- ½ cup chopped walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly coat 8½x4½" loaf pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper, leaving a generous overhang on long sides. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat brown sugar, mascarpone, and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend after each addition and scraping down sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
- Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas and mix just until combined. Fold in chocolate and/or walnuts, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.
- Bake bread until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 60–65 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let bread cool in pan 1 hour. Turn out bread and let cool completely (if you can resist) before slicing
