Banana Bread

• This is not a Polish recipe and my mother would not have made this cake, especially as my father did not like bananas.
• But looking online and on Instagram I find that bananas are used in many new recipes from Poland.
• Banana bread recipes originated in the USA in the early 1930s.
• They tended to be made in bread or loaf tins but I have found a flatter rectangular tin gives better results.
• For the best results the bananas have to be as ripe as possible – very black spotted skins and ‘squidgy’ flesh.
• I have adapted an old recipe of mine by using dried cranberries and am very pleased with the contrast between the bananas and the cranberries.
• I used a packet of cranberries which was 1`70g and made the dried fruit up to 250g with sultanas – you can adjust these amounts – but I found these worked well.

Ingredients

• 225g plain flour
• 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 110g butter
• 150g of granulated sugar
• 170g dried cranberries
• 80g sultanas
• 450g – mashed ripe banana flesh
• 2 eggs – beaten

Method

• Grease and line 32 x 22cm baking tin.
• Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C.
• Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
• Rub in the butter till the mixture is like breadcrumbs.
• Stir in the sugar, cranberries and sultanas.
• Mix this with the eggs and mashed bananas till uniform.
• Spoon into the tin and level.
• Bake for 40 – 45 minutes.