Baking for Beginners: Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of my favourite things. It's cakey, but substantial. If you cook it just right, it's moist enough to have just on its own (although a bit of butter never hurts). And it reminds me of the banana sandwiches my gran used to make me when I was a kid.

You'll need these things:

• 225g self-raising flour
• 100g butter
• 75g caster sugar
• 2 bananas all mashed up
• 2 eggs
• 2tbsp honey or maple syrup

And you'll need to do these things:

• Grease a loaf tin and preheat the over to 160 degrees/ gas mark 3.
• Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and rub the butter and flour together until you get a mix that resembles breadcrumbs.
• Beat the eggs.
• Stir in the eggs, sugar, bananas and honey into the flour mixture and mix together.
• Spoon the mixture into the oaf tin and bake for about an hour.
• A skewer should come out dry, but with a few crumbs stuck on it. That's when you know it's ready.
• Leave to cool in the tin and then transfer to a wire rack.
• Cut into thick slices and serve.

You can add all sorts to this recipe. Try dates, or chocolate chips, or even small pieces of toffee if you wanted to make something a little bit sweeter. Actually, that might not be a bad idea... we might have to try and make some banoffee bread!

Flickr image from Brianna.Lehman's photostream.