there's a banana in my bread

Hello. Today's recipe is a true classic in my household. It is deliciously simple and will happily satisfy that something-with-tea need. This banana bread rarely lasts longer than a day or two in my home, but kept to ourselves within our res room it kept beautifully for about 5 days. I suppose it can be classified somewhere between cake and bread (leaning a little towards the former). 

Bake him, warm him, smear him, share him and devour him. 

classic banana bread loaf 
with roasted pecan and brown sugar topping

2 cups of flour

3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sugar

120g butter

2 eggs 

3/4 cup milk 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 ripe mashed bananas (Ours "ripened" for about 2 weeks - the longer you leave them, the stronger the banana flavour will be in the bread)

2 teaspoons brown sugar

a handful of roughly chopped pecans

preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius 

sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and baking powder together, set aside

in a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy

add the eggs to the sugar and butter and beat until well combined

add the vanilla essence and continue to beat the mixture

add the sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternatively with the milk and bananas (we added a third of each mixture at a time) - beating the mixture between each addition

pour the mixture into a well greased (buttered) loaf tin

sprinkle the surface of the batter with the chopped pecan and the brown sugar

bake for 45 - 85 minutes 

(the time taken varies - after 45 minutes check the loaf every 10 minutes, if the cake tester/knife comes out clean, the bread is ready)

best enjoyed warm with a generous smear of salted butter and a cup of sweet tea

happy fooding!