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Brown Butter Banana Bread from the Woodfired Oven

If you remember the first lockdown in 2020 (not so long ago but so much has happened since) besides getting to grips with sourdough bread, the go-to cake was Milli Taylor’s Brown Butter Banana Bread; what better way of using up over-ripe bananas and a real pick-me-up and sugar hit when times are tough.

Brown Butter Banana Bread from the Woodfired Oven

We have finally got round to making it – maybe it was our super-spotty bananas calling to us – and rustled up a tray-bake version in the Bushman Santorini Woodfired Oven. No problem if you haven’t got a refractory oven; David will give you tips on how to cook it in a steel oven in the video so do check it out. No problem if you haven’t got a woodfired oven of any kind – just put it in your regular oven at 180C.

You can see the youtube video of David cooking our Brown Butter Banana Bread right here and the recipe is below. Do let us know how you get on.

Happy cooking and thanks Milli!

David and Hollyx

Ingredients

200g sultanas soaked in 150ml amontillado sherry overnight

360g unsalted butter

80g Demerara sugar

4 medium eggs

200g light Muscavado sugar

4 large overripe bananas, peeled and mashed

300g self raising flour

2 heaped teaspoons baking powder

150g walnuts, roughly chopped

Oven State, Equipment etc

1 roasting tin 30x20cm lined with baking parchment

If using a refractory oven, heat the oven and take out the embers and shut the oven door so the temperature is stable and  sitting around 5 Mississippi.

If using a metal oven, leave a bed of embers in the oven and add small pieces of kiln-dried wood as necessary to keep the temperature up to around 180C.

Door shut if no embers

Method

  • Melt 340g of the butter in the oven and bubble until it turns colour to a rich caramel. Strain the melted butter through a sieve and let it cool.
  • Melt the rest of the butter in the lined roasting tin and brush to cover the baking parchment. Scatter in the Demerara sugar so the buttery paper is evenly coated. Brown Butter Banana Bread from the Woodfired Oven
  • Put the eggs and the light Muscavado sugar into a mixer and whisk to get a thick, creamy mixture.Brown Butter Banana Bread from the Woodfired Oven
  • Add the cooled, melted butter, the soaked sultanas, the mashed bananas, the flour, baking powder and the chopped walnuts. Mix all together so there’s no dry floury bits and turn into the roasting tin. Use a rubber spatula to spread the mixture to the edges if you need to.
  • Put the tin in the oven and shut the door. Come back in about 15-20 minutes and turn the tin round for even cooking, shutting the door again.
  • Check the banana bread after 30-35 minutes and when it’s firm and an inserted skewer comes out clean, take the roasting tin out of the oven and leave the banana bread to cool before slicing. Brown Butter Banana Bread from the Woodfired Oven

Alternatives

  • Use different soaking liquids for the sultanas – brandy, rum, whisky, orange juice, apple juice, tea
  • Use different dried fruit – raisins, currents, chopped apricots
  • Use different nuts – flaked almonds, chopped hazelnuts, chopped macadamia nuts – or leave them out completely if you don’t eat nuts.
  • Use dark Muscavado sugar instead of light
  • Add a little spice if you like – cinnamon or nutmeg or ginger