Sourdough Banana Bread

5 from 1 vote

Sourdough Banana Bread

This Sourdough Banana Bread is a simple and classic loaf of banana bread made with four bananas and ½ cup sourdough starter, which keeps the loaf extra moist.

Prep Time10

Cook Time50

Total Time1

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 128kcal

Author: Lauren Skardal

Ingredients

¼ cup butter softened, 56g
½ cup granulated sugar 104g
4 bananas, overripe* see note below 1¾ cup mashed, 415 g
2 large eggs 115g
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5g
1 teaspoon baking soda 6g
½ teaspoon salt 3g
½ cup sourdough starter or discard 113g
1¼ cup all-purpose flour, unbleached 175g

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9x5 loaf pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter and granulated sugar.
Add the bananas to a 4-cup glass measuring pitcher and use a hand-held mixer to mash. Add the mashed bananas to the bowl with the butter and sugar and combine.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract and combine.
Add the sourdough starter, baking soda, and salt, and combine.
Add the flour and use a spoon to gently mix by hand. Do not overmix. Pour the batter into the loaf pan.
Bake at 350°F for 50-55 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Notes

Measuring Bananas: I find the easiest way to mash and measure the bananas is to add them to a 4-cup measuring cup and use a hand held mixer to mash them. Scrape the sides with a spoon, and check to make sure that the total volume of bananas is 1¾ cups.

However, you can also add the bananas straight to the mixing bowl and mash with the butter and sugar if you choose, or mash the bananas by hand with a fork.

Being Precise: In this recipe, having the exact amount of mashed bananas is not as important as having the exact right amount of ingredients in a cookie recipe. A little more banana will just mean that you need to bake your loaf a little longer, and vice versa for a little less banana. You want to be close to 1¾ cups, but it does not need to be exact. There's room for a little margin of error.

Sourdough Starter: Use either active sourdough starter prepped for the banana bread (instructions below) or use sourdough discard that you have on hand.

Prep Ahead (fed): To prep the starter for the banana bread, combine 38 grams sourdough starter, 38 grams water, and 38 grams all-purpose flour the night before or roughly 12 hours until it is light, bubbly and “active”. Leave the starter out on the counter overnight.
Discard (unfed): Use 113g (½ cup) sourdough discard from maintaining your sourdough starter.

Do Not Overmix: I find that using a spoon to mix in the flour helps to prevent overmixing. Overmixing leads to the development of gluten, which leads to a tougher, denser loaf rather than a light and fluffy loaf. Gluten development is great for a pizza crust, but not for banana bread.

Baking Times: In this recipe, I use a ceramic loaf pan. If you are using a metal loaf pan, you may need to reduce the baking time by 5 minutes. If you are using a glass loaf pan, you may need to add 5 minutes to the baking time.

Chocolate Chips: If you like a chocolate chip banana bread, add 1 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips to the batter before baking, and sprinkle a few additional ones on top.

Nutrition