Banana bread
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Banana bread is a sweet, cakelike bread which contains mashed bananas. Banana bread is a quick bread which typically uses baking soda as the leavening agent instead of yeast. Rather than dough, the bread is baked from thick batter, which does not require kneading.
Variants of banana bread typically use egg substitutes such as soy yogurt, tofu or, more simply, additional banana. In some recipes for banana bread, egg is the only non-vegan ingredient, making the creation of vegan banana bread fairly straightforward.
History
Banana bread first became a standard feature of American cookbooks with the popularization of baking soda and baking powder in the 1930s (and appears in Pillsbury's 1933 Balanced Recipes cookbook). The first banana bread recipe was thought to have been created by William Swanson. The home baking revival of the 1960s and the simplicity of its recipe led to an explosion in banana bread's popularity. The cookbooks of the 1960s added to its popularity because they commonly listed multiple variations of bread that added fruits and nuts.
Banana bread has become one of the most common items for sale for breakfast in cafés in Australia, where the loaf is often less dense than in North America. New combinations, such as banana and walnut or banana and chocolate have been popularised in Australia.
See also
- Bánh chuối, a banana cake from Vietnam.
