Ultimate Banana Bread

Out of breakfast food, I pondered what I was going to eat.  The decision was made to make banana bread.  Now, my mom makes banana bread quite frequently at home.  I remember many days coming home from school to the smell of the bread coming out of our oven.  When I saw this recipe in the Cook's Illustrated magazine, I wondered how it would differ in taste from my mom's recipe.  I had to make it.  My desire to make this recipe grew stronger as I read the article about the bread in the magazine.  You see Cook's Illustrated goes through great detail of how it experimented to obtain a certain taste.  The author in the article goes through great length to describe how most banana bread recipes don't actually taste like banana.  I always thought my mom's tasted like banana or maybe, growing up eating it, I came to associate the taste of bananas with banana bread.  The mere concept that there were bananas in may have convinced me at an early age that it tasted like banana... I had to know whether I had been brainwashed!  Here's to making BANANA BREAD :)

From Cook's Illustrated July/August 2010

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 large very ripe bananas peeled
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 F.  Spray 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with nonstick coating spray.  Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl.
2. Place 5 bananas in microwave safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife.  Microwave on high power until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes.  Transfer bananas to fine mesh strainer placed over medium bowl and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes (you should have 1/2 to 3/4 cup liquid).
3. Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes.  Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas, and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth.  Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.
4. Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in walnuts, if using.  Scrape batter into prepared pan.  Slice remaining banana diagonally into 4 inch thick slices.  Shingle banana slices on top of either side of loaf, leaving 1 1/2 inch wide space down center to ensure even rise.  Sprinkle granulated sugar over loaf.
5. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 55 to 75 minutes.  Cool bread in pan on wire rack 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool on wire rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Whew...obtaining a banana taste was more difficult than I anticipated.  Microwaving and boiling banana juice... what!   The banana juice was hard work and I am still not sure whether it was worth it.  This was most definitely the fanciest banana bread that I have ever made.  Overall, I give this bread 4.2 out of 5 stars.  Like Cook's Illustrated described it, the bread is moist but not wet.  It melts in your mouth.  Upon cutting the bread did not crumble.  In addition, it tasted more like banana's like the recipe touted it would.  This banana bread recipe was better than my mom's.  This is a hard fact for me to admit.  My mom's recipe is not bad, but it tastes less like bananas and more like butter.  As to whether I would make this recipe again, I am slightly torn.  It was a lot of work for banana bread...I feel like I should have made a gourmet treat in that same period of time.  However, I did enjoy eating the bread every morning for a week.  Happy baking....