I have made this recipe for a very long time, because the bread disappears very, fast. I don't know the origin of this recipe, its pretty creative, almost want to call it a science fair experiment. Once upon another lifetime I frequently watched a cooking show on a local TV station, and that's where were I found this gem. There were always bags of spotty bananas on sale CHEAP at my favorite little market and love mayo{mayonnaise} so I hurriedly wrote the instructions in my scrawly handwriting and after trying it I printed out the recipe...shared and shared it, then shared it some more.
Arlene's Banana Bread
1 1/2c flour
1 c sugar
1 tesp salt
1 tesp baking soda
1/2 c. mayo
3 overripe bananas mashed well
1 cup chocolate chips, walnuts, dried fruit, whatever you like
1 beaten egg
Combine dry ingredients, and set aside.
In a large bowl combine mayo, well beaten egg, and well mashed bananas blend well, then add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Preheat oven to 375degrees, use the usual pan spray, or butter 2 loaf pans divide the batter between the pans.
Bake for twenty minutes or until it tests done.
Sometimes I will make a double batch and, use 3 large loaf pans, which take more time to bake. Using a single batch I sometimes use 3 small or individual loaf pans which bake faster.
I use only 1/2 tesp of salt, or leave it out , don't like anything salty except peanut butter stuffed pretzels. Only once did I use banana chips in this and , seriously, no one!!!
This
isn’t the first time banana bread has gained popularity during a time
of crisis. In fact, it’s how modern banana bread came to be.
A New York City bread line in 1931. Source: The Guardian
In 1929, the US economy crashed, leaving the country in dire straits and causing America’s Great Depression. By 1933 around 15 million Americans were unemployed
and those that were in work saw their wages shrink by a third. The USA
was the worst affected country but it also marked a decline in living
standards around the world.
The Great Depression became a time of
food scarcity for most Americans and emergency food programs were set
up to prevent starvation. By 1931, breadlines in New York City were giving out 85,000 meals a day.
In some places, surplus agricultural products were given to the poor
and a small-scale ‘food-stamp’ program was set up for federal workers in
need.
Andrew Coe and Jane Ziegelman, authors of A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression, say that loaves became a popular food,
especially those that included cheap additions which helped to stretch
ingredients out. Recipes appeared for peanut loaf, liver loaf and bean
loaf. Quick breads, breads made without yeast, were also popular, as
they required less time to rise.
Balanced Recipes (1933). One of the first cookbooks to contain a recipe for banana bread. Source: Pinterest.
It was in this climate that banana bread (or loaf) - a type of quick
bread - became increasingly popular. Some historians have claimed that
it was thrifty housewives looking to use up their overripe bananas who
came up with the recipes for modern banana bread. (I say ‘modern’
because bananas had been widely used in recipes, including cakes, long
before the 1930s). It’s more likely, however, that corporate kitchens developed and promoted the recipe,
to reduce food waste and help homecooks add a nutritional boost to
their baking. One of the earliest printed recipes appeared in 1933 in a
cookbook called Balanced Recipes (which you can find below).
Another key ingredient also played a part in the rise of banana bread; baking powder. Baking powder was invented in 1856
by a Harvard chemistry professor - who called in ‘yeast powder’ and
began to be commercially produced at the start of the 1900s. During the
Great Depression, baking powder companies ‘engaged in a cut throat price war
for control of the national market’, driving down prices and making
‘quick breads’, like banana bread, more accessible to the home cook.
This
combination of necessity and ingredients helped popularise banana bread
across America and eventually many parts of the world. So the next time
somebody tells you you’re jumping on the latest trend by baking a
lockdown loaf, you can tell them you’re simply engaging with an activity
that has historical precedence. And also, who cares, banana bread is
delicious.
Banana bread recipes
Below is the recipe that appeared in 1933’s Balanced Recipes, in case you fancy trying it out yourself. But if you’re looking for a more up-to-date recipe, my friend and baker-extraordinaire, Barbara Speed, recommends this tahini version. Or, if you’ve got another lockdown favourite on the go, you can make this sourdough version.
Banana nut bread
Recipe makes 1 large loaf, 8x4x2 Temperature: 350 degrees F.; Time: about 1 1/4 hours
2 cups Pillsbury's Best flour 1/2 teaspoon soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup chopped nutmeats 1/2 cup Pillsbury's Wheat Bran 1/4 cup shortening 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 tablespoons thick sour cream 1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1. Sift flour, soda, salt and baking powder together; stir in nut meats and wheat bran. 2. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. 3. Combine mashed bananas and sour cream; add alternately with flour to first mixture. 4. Bake in a greased loaf pan lines with waxed paper, in a moderate oven.
I never was a fan of banana bread until an elderly man at the Famer's Market gave me gave me this recipe, also i had erroneously bought several jars of diet mayo...yucky don't describe the taste of that stuff, not by half!!!
Arlene's Banana Mayo loaf~~~yield one large loaf
1 1/2 c, flour
1c. white sugar
1 tesp baking soda
scant tesp of salt
1/2 c. mayo
3 overripe medium bananas well mashed
1 cup chocolate chips
1 large egg
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, blend well, and set aside.
In a large bowl combine the egg and mashed bananas, beat on low until well blended, then blend in mayo. Blend in dry ingredients and put in buttered and floured loaf pan {or spray the pan with any good cake pan spray}.
bake a 375
for 30 min or until it tests done
I make this pretty often, and have used nuts, M&Ms, candied fruit, dried fruit and even granola, or honey bunches of oats type cereal, or even a mix of these to add interest
Also I have make this in two smaller{not the mini ones}loaf pans, in those times when I thought that there was too much mashed banana in the mix. Watch these smaller loaves carefully as the are done sooner.
