While traditional bread is made of wheat flour, water, salt, and yeast, banana bread is actually more of an unfrosted cake in a loaf shape. Typical ingredients include flour, mashed bananas, sugar, eggs, and butter.
It’s great for using up those last few overripe bananas in the fruit bowl and the best part about it is that it can be quickly cooked in hardly any time at all!
How to Fix Banana Bread Too Moist
Even though banana bread is usually moist, it should never be stodgy or soggy. There are several reasons which could lead to banana bread being too moist and we’ll have a look at them in this article.
The best way to fix banana bread that’s too moist is to bake it for longer in a moderate oven. If the outer crust is already brown, cover the loaf as it bakes with a piece of aluminum foil to prevent it browning any further.
This will allow the center to finish cooking which will hopefully fix your moistness issue. However, if the dampness is due to other reasons, you’re going to have to try again with another loaf and use our prevention tips.
Meanwhile, don’t waste your moist loaf…cut it into slices and toast it!
- You Might Have Underbaked the Bread
One of the most common reasons that could lead your banana bread to be too moist is that you might have underbaked it. Whenever you bake anything, you must keep an eye on the temperature as well as for how long you bake it.
Banana bread should not be baked in an oven hotter than 350˚F or it will cook too quickly on the outside, leaving the inside too moist and undercooked.
If you suspect this is happening to a loaf you have in the oven, cover it with a sheet of foil, turn the heat down a little, and bake for a little longer. Insert a skewer or sharp knife into the center of the loaf when you think it’s done.
If it comes out clean, your loaf is done. If there is dough on the blade, return the loaf to the oven and cook for another ten minutes or so.
- Using Too Much Banana
The moisture in banana bread comes from several sources – milk, butter, and the bananas themselves. Most single loaf recipes call for a maximum of four medium-sized bananas.
Any more than this and your loaf will be wet, stodgy, and heavy. If the bananas you have are particularly large, reduce the number you use.
- Not Enough Flour
Similar to the previous step, if you are positive you have used the correct number of bananas in your recipe, then it could be that you are not using enough flour.
If your bread does not contain enough flour, it will have a very moist texture, and might not even be able to maintain its proper shape. We highly advise you to try increasing the amount of flour that you are using. Most recipes for a single loaf call for at least two cups of flour.
- Using Too Much Fat
Another key ingredient that most banana bread recipes use is fat content (usually in the form of butter or oil). It is important to note that using too much of these ingredients could not only make your banana bread too moist, but it can also contribute to making your bread unhealthy.
This is why we encourage you to always keep the fat content you use in check. You can use ingredients like apple sauce to replace most of the fat, which will also help cut down on a few calories from the bread while still keeping it moist.
Best Banana Bread Recipe
Here, we’ve gifted you with an old family recipe for banana bread that is moist, delicious, and never too wet. Try it and please enjoy it. Let us know in the comments how it turns out for you.
Ingredients:
- 120g butter, softened
- 150g white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 ripe bananas, mashed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 240g cake flour
- Pinch of salt
- 5 ml baking soda
- 30 ml milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350˚F (180˚C)
- Line and grease a loaf pan.
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Add eggs one at a time.
- Add banana and lemon juice. Mix together.
- In another bowl, mix dry ingredients and stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk and vanilla.
- Scrape into the loaf pan and bake for 50-60 min until cooked through.