Hi there, and hope you are having a great week! I am continuing with my lockdown alphabet series posts and this week I am covering the letter B for “Baking” and “Banana Bread”!
So tell me honestly, did you bake banana bread or anything else during the lockdown? I am not much of a baker (or cook!) but my mother and sister have had a ball baking goodies for us in the kitchen through this entire lockdown period! What started with banana bread, cakes, brownies, and other sugary treats quickly transitioned to more serious experiments around garlic bread, pizza and other novelties which we have never tried at home before! As some of you know, my sister is a food blogger and she has really used this lockdown to try new things in the kitchen. Check out her Instagram profile here for a sneak peek into our indulgences through this lockdown.
As for me, well you all know I am happiest inside a bakery! I love all things bread and I am sure that is fairly obvious from the name of this blog! So I can safely proclaim “baking” is my all time favorite lockdown trend in 2020.
Why is everyone baking during the lockdown?
When I started compiling my lockdown series, I knew baking had to be a part of it, because it has emerged as one of the biggest lockdown trends of 2020. In fact, there are plenty of jokes on the internet that compare the pandemic to a festival, given the copious amounts of baking and cooking happening in kitchens around the world! But why is this so?
Well I believe this is due to a number of connected reasons. To start off, people across the world no longer had the option to dine out or consciously reduced ordering in (for the most part) during the initial months of the lockdown. Parallely, the uncertainty induced by the coronavirus called for an anti-stress antidote. Enter – cravings for comfort food and bread! Baking in general is a relaxing and therapeutic process. Some articles even state that the feeling of accomplishment at getting a perfect loaf out of the oven helped people manage their anxieties better during this period. And hence, many people took up baking as an activity during this period. First timers had the internet help them with all the essential do’s and don’ts to start their baking journey. And this trend of more and more people baking definitely resulted in hurting the keto diet fad through the year!
For those of us who are interested in cultural or historical trivia, I would highly recommend two additional articles. Read this to understand more about the roots of lockdown baking and read this interesting take on the baking history of India – one of the countries around the globe that has been severely affected by the pandemic in 2020.
Banana Bread: everyone’s favorite bake during the Pandemic!
When people started baking in the lockdown, most of them started with the simple, easy to make and relatively healthy banana bread. And I chose to feature this in my baking post, because it was the first thing my mom baked during the lockdown! 🙂
Mind you, things move fast after you have baked your first banana bread. It gives you the confidence to get more ambitious in the kitchen. From there, you navigate to trying other breads (sourdough anyone?) and more baked delicacies – whether savory or sweet.
The massive list of banana bread recipes!
Now that I have got you excited about baking and banana bread, I am going to round up this post with a compilation of my favorite recipes out there. Now remember, there are lots of banana bread recipes, and these are just the ones that caught my fancy!
Disclaimer: All recipes and pictures are credited and linked to their respective owners website. Please read my Image Use Policy & Disclaimer here.
- I want to start my list with the simplest and most basic banana bread recipe. Get it from The Kitchn Blog here.
- If you are looking for healthy, vegan or paleo versions, check out the list below:
- I like my bread nutty and full of flavor. If you are the same, try out some of these nut variations from below:
- Cashew Butter Banana Bread
- Pecan Banana Bread
- Walnut Banana Bread – one of my favorites!
- Fruity flavors go well with the regular banana bread. Check out some of the popular variations:
- Carrot Cake Banana Bread
- Blueberry Banana Bread
- Strawberry Banana Bread
- Raspberry Banana Bread
- Caramel Apple Cider Banana Bread – for an early welcome to fall!
- If you are not watching calories or simply in the mood to indulge, try out these recipes:
- I am always up for something unusual, and these recipes offer just the right twist for when you get bored with regular banana bread:
- A good slice of banana bread with strong coffee reminds me of Starbucks and my travels around the world! Imagine if you had a recipe that would give you both? Look no further than these coffee themed recipes:
- Dalgona Coffee Banana Bread – this is our entire lockdown in one bake! PS – dalgona coffee deserves its own post!
- Starbucks copycat Banana Bread
- Better than Starbucks Banana Bread
- Coffee Cake Banana Bread
- Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
If you want to go through even more recipes and compilations, I would recommend the following:
- Huffington Post compiled a list of all banana bread variations, from the regular to the mundane.
- Keeping with the theme of my lockdown series, I really like Taste of Home’s compilation of banana bread recipes from A to Z.
- Averie Cooks compiled over 40 banana bread recipes and I am pretty sure you can find something you like in this huge list.
- And lastly, if you are in the mood for rich dessert, Delish has compiled some of the most indulgent banana bread recipes out there.
So there you go! Here are the recipes I personally liked the best so far, and I can tell you we have tried more than one from this list in the last few months. Do these sound appetizing to you? Can you spot a favorite on the list? Tell me in the comments below!
Image Credits: Posh Journal, Feasting Not Fasting, Nordic Violet, Butter Be Ready, Krati Agarwal, Ana Davila, Peanut Butter Plus Chocolate, Jessica in the Kitchen, Playful Cooking, Pretty Simple Sweet
Image Use Policy & Disclaimer here.
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