Gilt Free: Banana Bread

Some foods simply need no gilding with either sauce or word.

Banana Bread

2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c black walnut pieces
3 ea very ripe large bananas
1/4 c yogurt
2 ea eggs -- lightly beaten
6 tbsp unsalted butter -- melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9x5x3 loaf pan.

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

In another bowl, mash bananas and thoroughly mix in yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Fold banana mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.

Pour into loaf pan and set on rack in the lower third of oven. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes until loaf is browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then finish cooling on a wire rack.

Adapted from a recipe in Cooks Illustrated.

Kevin Weeks is a Gather food correspondent (Paisano), personal chef, cooking teacher, and writer in Knoxville, Tennessee who spends too many hours on his feet, cooking. "Paisano" is a column focused on peasant dishes from around the world. To read more of Kevin's writings or connect to him click here. His blog, Seriously Good, is read by 75,000 cooks a month.