Miso Banana Bread

Banana bread during quarantine…groundbreaking. Miso in banana bread has intrigued me for a while and since I have a tub of miso, it was time to give it a shot. I used this recipe from Food52 and it couldn’t have been easier.

Start by mashing your bananas, 3-4 super ripe ones, to be exact. Using the paddle attachment in your mixer, combine 1/2 c. butter, 3 tbsp white miso, 1/2 c. sugar, and 1/2 c. brown sugar on medium speed. After about 2 minutes it’ll get fluffy looking (pic above). Then, add in the mashed bananas, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla and mix for 30 seconds. Lastly, add 1 3/4 c. flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, and 1 tsp cinnamon and mix for another 30 seconds on low speed. If you mix on medium here, flour will fly everywhere. Don’t ask me how I know. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, turn, and bake for another 15 minutes.

I sprayed the heck out of my loaf pan with Pam and it came right out of dish with a light jiggle of a knife around the sides. This is now one of only, probably, three truly successful baking attempts to date. That alone proves it’s a good recipe.

And the flavor! I know miso in banana bread sounds super weird, but this works in the same way salted caramel works. It shouldn’t, but it just does. It could have been a tiny bit sweeter, but I think that’s because of the bananas I used. I used three smallish ones when I probably should have used 4 of that size. And I could have probably let them ripen for another day. But generally this isn’t going to be an overly sweet banana bread, which is exactly why I like it. I’m not a fan of sickly sweet things – case in point: I hate icing, which is why I gravitate towards banana bread in the first place. Do you like when people eat your food and say “mmm that’s so good but I can’t put my finger on exactly why…?” If so, this is the banana bread recipe for you.