This recipe holds a special place in my heart because it was the first one I baked. And also because it was the first one to taste so awesome and delicious and it made quite a few of my family and friends to sit up and take notice of me as some force to reckon with in the kitchen. Yay!
The best part of this recipe is that it is very easy and more importantly very forgiving. I have tried variations and substitutions but it has always come through for me.

Once I made a very bad cake which was airy and did not stick to the pan but it tasted very bad. Probably I did not measure out the ingredients properly. But I had put in so many ingredients that I felt bad wasting it like that. So I put the cake in a blender, powdered it and froze it. A few days later, I used that as the flour and added the bananas and sugar to make this banana bread. It tasted divine. Yes! It is that forgiving a recipe. So always have it close to your oven and heart and you can whip it up whenever you need either a quick fix dessert or some comfort food.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
4-5 small ripe bananas
3/4 tsp salt

Directions
1. Pre heat the oven to 165C
2. Grease a pan with butter
3. Mash the bananas thoroughly so that there are no lumps left

4. Mix flour, baking soda and salt

5. Cream the sugar and butter to form a light and fluffy mixture

6. Add the flour mix to the butter mix

7. Add the bananas and mix well.

8. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50 minutes

Notes
1. You can try adding nutmeg or cinnamon or raisins or walnuts to this recipe. Add it at the time when you add the bananas
2. This can be done with whole wheat flour as well. I did not want to take too many chances with my first recipe and so I have done it with plain flour
3. I have filled the batter up to the brim of my baking dish but that should not be done. The dish should only be 3/4 full of the batter so as to leave place for the bread to rise. That is why my bread is cracked in a couple of places.
4. As per the original recipe the butter and sugar need to be creamed till they are light and fluffy. I have found, over multiple attempts with this recipe that even if it is not creamed but just mixed thoroughly the bread turns out fine. It has a nice chewy texture at the top which I like.
5. The number of bananas depend on its size and sweetness. I add 5 small bananas. Also, it would be best if the bananas are extremely ripe. The bananas that are show above are ripe but not fully. You can wait for the skin to turn little more darker for a smooth and sweet banana bread.

Happy Baking!