Sourdough Banana Bread and Banana Pancakes

I had a lot of bananas to use up last week, and that’s never a bad thing because I love baking with them. The riper the banana, the better for banana baking—they get so much sweeter, more flavourful, and easier to mash.

I’ve got two recipes to share today - For free subscribers, I’m sharing my sourdough banana bread. It’s soft and tender, and to make it extra special, I add chopped candied ginger. It’s optional but it gives these great little pops of spicy flavour! For my Extra Bite subscribers, I am sharing my sourdough banana pancakes recipe. They’re great fresh, or to make in advance! I make a double batch and freeze them so my boys can grab ‘em out of the freezer and warm them up for breakfast.

Sourdough Banana Bread

If you’re not a fan of candied ginger, you can leave it out or swap it for chopped nuts or chocolate chips!

You can find the printable recipe here.

• 100 g (7 Tablespoons) butter

• 250 g (about 2 large) overripe bananas

• 150 g (3/4 cup) soft brown sugar

• 100 g (1/2 cup) sourdough discard starter

• 2 large eggs

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 250 g (2 cups*) all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 50 g (1/4 cup) crystallised ginger, optional

*The cup sizes provided are US-size cups. Note that these are smaller than metric cups. For best results, use a kitchen scale and grams.

Cinnamon sugar Topping

• 2 Tbsp granulated white sugar

• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease a standard loaf pan

Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove. Let it cool slightly.

Finely dice the candied ginger into small 2mm pieces.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the cooled butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sourdough starter and stir well until combined. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl.

Tip the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients along with the diced ginger and fold it together until well combined but not over-mixed.

If you want to ferment the batter before baking, the bowl can be covered and refrigerated for 6 hours or overnight before baking.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf pan.

Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping and sprinkle over the top of the batter. Bake for 60-65 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

An Extra Bite

If you’re a free subscriber to my Recipe Newsletter, you’ll continue to receive a free recipe emailed weekly. I also have an “Extra Bite" monthly subscription plan for those who crave a bit more! This gives you continuous access to all the recipes in my growing archives—ad-free, plus bonus recipes.

Thank you so much to those who support this newsletter through a paid subscription. This week's extra bite is Sourdough Banana Pancakes.

I made these a few times to test the batter's overnight fermentation. In my classic sourdough pancakes, I mix everything except the baking powder and baking soda the night before, cold-ferment it, and then add the raising agents in the morning. I did this because when I first started baking, I was told baking soda would lose its viability if added too soon.

But when I make sourdough quick bread like banana bread, I mix everything in and cold-ferment, and it always works well. So I thought I’d test the two options—mixing in everything all at once and leaving overnight versus waiting to add the raising agents—and see which works best.

Long story short, I found that mixing everything in these banana pancakes, including the baking powder and baking soda, and leaving the batter to ferment made them fluffier and, in my opinion, better tasting than when adding the raising agents in the morning. It also makes it all easier, since in the morning, all that’s left to do is cook them!