Banana Bread

Heat the oven to 350F (175C)

Grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan and line it with a strip of parchment long enough to overhang the two long sides.

Mash the bananas

Use bananas that are heavily spotted or fully black. Underripe yellow bananas have not converted their starch to sugar, and they give a bland, dry loaf no matter how long it bakes. Mash with a fork until mostly smooth, leaving a few small lumps.

Whisk the wet ingredients

Whisk the melted butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until smooth, then stir in the mashed bananas.

Fold in the dry ingredients

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl. Add them to the wet mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined and no dry streaks remain, roughly 15 strokes. Overmixing develops gluten and produces a tough loaf with long tunnels running through the crumb. A few small lumps of flour are fine.

Bake 55 to 65 minutes

Scrape the batter into the pan and level the top. Bake at 350F (175C) for 55 to 65 minutes. The loaf is done when the top is domed and split, springs back when pressed lightly, and a skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs and no wet batter. Tent the top with foil after 45 minutes if it is browning quickly.

Cool in the pan, then turn out

Let the loaf sit in the pan for 10 minutes so it firms up enough to hold together. Lift it out by the parchment and cool on a rack.

Storage. Wrapped in foil at room temperature, the loaf keeps 3 days and tastes better on the second. It also freezes well in slices for up to 3 months.