dominique ansel’s banana bread
11
As you may have heard, the great Dominique Ansel recently released the recipe for his infamous cronuts. The recipe takes three days, four rises, a deep fryer, and something called a “butter block”. Oh, and let’s not forget to make the glaze and the flavored sugar.
While I may never eat (and will more likely never make) a cronut, what I was more interested in was his much simpler, more approachable recipe for the great and humble banana bread. Because the one thing everyone needs is yet another banana bread recipe, right?
I mean, it’s not like I don’t already have not one but two recipes for banana bread right here on this very site, but I was intrigued. I mean, how amazing can banana bread really be?
I became even more intrigued as I continued reading the recipe… no vanilla, no brown sugar, not even a hint of cinnamon. Clearly this was some sort of trick. Would Mr. Eats even eat a quickbread that wasn’t covered in streusel? I wasn’t sure…
I fought off my urge to tinker with every fiber of my being… No, Natalie, we aren’t adding vanilla. Or brown sugar. That “dash of cinnamon” is definitely off the table – If the great Dominique Ansel doesn’t need it, then neither do I gosh darnit!
After I congratulated myself on completing a recipe from start to finish by actually following the directions and not tinkering with a single ingredient… I tossed it in the oven and prepared myself for disappointment. I was ready to laugh and scoff and bring Chef Ansel down a peg.
Well color me wrong because this stuff is like banana gold. It turns out, apparently, that you don’t actually need any vanilla, or streusel, or cinnamon. All you need is bananas, flour, sugar, eggs and love. And lots of butter. You’ll definitely be needing that butter. And an over-sized loaf pan (my puny 8 by 5 would not do. Luckily I found some old larger loaf pan that, judging from the looks of it, I can only assume came from my mom or possibly a bomb shelter.
The loaf baked up with an incredibly light and tender crumb on the inside and a delightfully crisp exterior. I was a bit lazy about the banana-mashing so I still had a few chunks of banana, but i like it that way.
It is pure banana essence baked into loaf form and more than anything else – it is addictive.
Score one for Chef Ansel. I’m so sorry I ever doubted you.
Since I assumed that his cookbook would be full of cronuts and other complex things that frankly I get tired just thinking about… I had already decided that I wasn’t going to purchase it. However, now that I realize that there could be more gems in there like this banana bread, I should probably just pre-order it now.
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 4 overripe bananas, mashed
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing pan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10" x 5" x 3 ½" loaf pan and set aside.
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, whisking to combine.
- In a separate medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs and whisk in mashed bananas.
- Create a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Gently fold the mixture until the ingredients are just combined.
- Add the melted butter to the flour and banana mixture, and stir until fully incorporated.
- Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack to complete cooling.
Notes
This recipe was found on Tasting Table
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11 thoughts on “dominique ansel’s banana bread”
THE MAN INVENTED THE CRONUT! WHY WOULD YOU DOUBT HIM?!
(I’m making banana bread today.)
WHAT WAS I THINKING???
it does seem as though the cronut is to D. Ansel as “Blister in the Sun” is to the Violent Femmes: a super popular thing with a life of its own which doesn’t give a true example of what he’s really about. you know?
i’m afraid to make this due to how much i’d eat it. like living in fear, afraid. I can’t even pawn it off on the wee one b/c she’s made it clear that she’s soooo not into banana things (weirdo, i know.)
That’s what husbands with jobs are for… “I made this bread, now go forth and pawn it off on the people you work with”
Funny story that Aaron told me the other day – for a long time his coworkers thought I didn’t exist and that he just secretly loved baking and would tell people his “girlfriend” made the baked goods so they didn’t tease him.
omg i am dying laughing at this lol. b/c now i’m like, picturing aaron in the kitchen, whistling in an apron, and being all “whoodedoo, baking up these cupcakes…*sigh*…guess i’ll have to make up another story about what “natalie” and i did this weekend…” lol. aw!
HAHAHAHA – Like a sad look on his face “HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN ALL THESE CUPCAKES TO MY COWORKERS??” hahahhahaha
Damn, I’m gonna have to make this. B/c, like you, I have the urge to alter recipes. A burning desire really. The rebel in me b/c I didn’t in my teenage years. But now, as I age banana’s, I’ll make it. And see if it’s the shizzle.
p.s. One time I made homemade cronuts and they were ok. Now w/ D.A.’s cronut recipe release, I may have to make it again. Start to finish it was 14 hrs. Now, 72 hrs of my life will be spent on these buggers.
I thought the same about the recipe, was very curious, but…WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH ALL THE SUGAR? Lol. It’s got two times the sugar of a normal loaf of banana bread. That, along with the butter, makes the great crust. But all that sugar plus four overripe bananas? A 1/1 ratio of flour to sugar in a quickbread? Banana cake maybe? It sounds cloyingly sweet…not sure…I did see one blogger that did the bread with 1.5 cups, still got the crust….
I know, Jane! I would say that you could easily cut the sugar by a half cup at least. It was one of the things I had SUCH A HARD TIME NOT PLAYING WITH. Especially since I cut the sugar in almost EVERY recipe I make. I find that most recipes have way more sugar than are necessary. Really though I think it’s common now that “quick breads” are often just cakes baked into loaf pans just like how “muffins” are often just cupcakes without frosting lol
I will say that, while the bread was sweet, it wasn’t as coyingly sweet as I was expecting it to be with all of that sugar. I think if you tried to put a streusel or anything on top of the bread, though, you would probably immediately die of diabetes. haha
that IS a lot of sugar, now that you mention it: like almost makes it a caramel-banana candy bar? hmmm…i mean like a BIG candy bar, though.
a big, delicious, banana bread candy loaf bar… mmmm