Bakery Style Banana Bread Recipe: Bob Evan's Copycat (Video) (2024)

FAQs

Does Bob Evans banana bread have nuts in it? ›

Our signature banana bread recipe made with hand-chopped walnuts and baked in our restaurants every morning.

Not only are overripe bananas easier to mash, they also give the bread more moisture, sweetness, and flavor. How ripe is overripe? We're talking anything from spotted bananas all the way to solid black. If you need to make banana bread today and all you have are nearly ripe bananas — roast 'em.

You may be baking at too high a temperature. Home ovens are often not accurate. Try lowering the temperature by 25°F, and bake for a slightly longer time. If you are using a dark colored pan like many non-stick pans it will cause the outside to brown more quickly while the inside stays raw.

First, why the crack occurs: Since quick breads and pound cake batters tend to be thick and dense, the exterior bakes first. But as the center of the cake continues to bake, releasing moisture, it rises, pushing through the top crust, and creating a crack.

At Bob Evans, soybean oil is used for frying and grilling. Although soybean oil isn't an allergen, a sensitivity to soybean is common and you should avoid any fried or grilled item if you experience such health issues.

Banana bread recipes typically ask you to use overripe bananas so that they're easier to mush. This means it's tempting to toss all your bananas into the mix when you're ready to bake, to avoid food waste. But if you add too much of the fruit into your batter, your bread could turn out mushy, heavy, and wet.

I believe their recipe calls for 1/4 cup of plain yogurt added to melted butter, bananas, and egg for the wet ingredients alongside the usual dry ones. I only use 2 bananas but add 1/2 cup plain applesauce and 1/4th cup half and half. Comes out very moist and yummy.

Using too much butter makes for a heavier cake with less banana flavor. Using double the amount of butter that the recipe called for left me with a loaf that was dry on the outside and moist on the inside.

If your bread is getting overdone on the outside while still undercooked in the center, reduce the oven temperature and bake it for a longer time. The primary reason as to why banana bread may be raw in the middle is simply down to not enough cooking time.

If they smell off, that's another good indicator that they are no longer okay to use. Rotten bananas will often have a fermented or alcohol-like smell. While it's okay if the banana peel is dark brown or even black, if the inside is too, then the fruit is beyond ripe and now on its way to rotten.

Why is my banana bread like a brick? ›

Your bananas here were too dry, maybe because they were not so ripe, and they dried out the rest of the batter, making it dense and heavy. In dense and heavy batter, it's hard for your baking powder to make air bubbles (that's why you got a brick).

Banana bread is made with a very wet batter. It's important to use a tester to make sure it's fully baked. Cutting it before it is completely cooled can lead to the gummy texture. Cooling the bread to room temperature allow us the starch that gels during baking to set again.

Over mixing the batter

The reason is as you mix, the gluten begins to develop, and when too much development happens, you can end up with a dense, chewy loaf rather than the soft and delicious banana bread you were hoping for.

While many proud homes have their own specific recipes, banana bread is a baked good that typically contains bananas, flour, butter or oil, eggs, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Ingredients like these make up a traditional banana bread recipe.

Unless you deliberately seek out bread that advertises itself as nut-free, such as Hovis, there is a chance your loaf is linked to nuts. Gluten-free bread, for instance, is often packed with walnuts, pistachios and hazelnuts. Healthy wholegrain bread is regularly speckled with seeds and nuts.

However, nuts and peanuts traces can also be hidden in other food products, especially processed ones, such as bakery products, because of cross-contamination occurring during production.

Bananas, walnuts and pecans in moist, nutty, classic banana bread.