Brown Butter Banana Bread
Everyone has a banana bread recipe. This is the one worth switching to, and the only change is browning the butter first. Cooking butter until the milk solids turn golden and smell of toffee and hazelnuts adds a nutty, almost caramel depth that plain melted butter can't touch — and it takes five minutes.
The other rules are the usual ones, and they matter: the bananas must be properly black and soft, not merely spotty; don't overmix once the flour goes in, or the loaf turns tough and gummy; and it's better slightly under than over, so pull it when a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs.
It keeps for days, toasts beautifully with butter, and freezes in slices.
Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Keep cooking, swirling often, for 4–6 minutes — it will foam, then the foam will subside and the milk solids at the bottom will turn deep golden and smell nutty. Immediately pour into a large bowl, scraping in every brown fleck, and let it cool for 10 minutes.
Heat the oven to 160°C fan / 180°C / gas 4. Butter a 900g (2lb) loaf tin and line it with a strip of baking paper overhanging the long sides.
Mash the bananas into the cooled brown butter until fairly smooth. Whisk in the brown sugar, then the eggs one at a time, then the soured cream and vanilla, until glossy.
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon over the wet mixture. Fold with a spatula just until no dry flour remains — a few lumps are fine. Do not beat.
Scrape the batter into the lined tin and level the top. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar for crunch.
Bake for 55–65 minutes, until deep golden, risen and cracked along the top, and a skewer into the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs. If it browns too fast, tent loosely with foil after 40 minutes.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then lift out using the paper and cool on a wire rack for at least another 30 minutes before slicing — it's gummy if cut hot.
Bananas: The blacker the better. If yours aren't ripe enough, roast them (skin on) at 180°C for 15 minutes until the skins are black and the flesh is soft.
Brown butter: Watch it closely at the end — it goes from golden to burnt in seconds. Take it off the heat while the foam is still subsiding and it smells nutty.
Add-ins: 100g dark chocolate chunks, toasted walnuts, or a swirl of tahini all work. Add after the flour, folding minimally.
Storage: 4 days wrapped at room temperature, 3 months sliced and frozen.