My loaf baking obsession continues. Banana bread is the one that started it all, I believe. When we were staying in Berlin earlier this year, we spent about a month in Kreuzberg where we were lucky enough to have Passenger espresso as our local cafe. This place served some of the best coffee in Berlin. We usually ended up going there several times a day, and invariably ordered a piece of their Banana bread along with our flat whites. The phrase ‘zwei flat white und ein stück Banane Brot, bitte’ is imprinted in my brain permanently (sadly that’s about the extent of the German I’ve remembered from the trip).

The particularly delicious thing about this banana bread is that it had ginger in it- LOTS of ginger, and you could tell they used fresh rather than powdered too. It was quite a surprising combination, but one that really worked. The recipe I used to make this loaf is quite different from the Passenger version, but one of the more delicious ones I’ve come across. I’ve made this recipe a few times now, but today was the first time we didn’t scoff it all before I’d had a chance to take a photo. I copied it off the internet somewhere (I can’t remember now) but I think it was attributed to Sophie Dahl. I’ve made some changes from the original, so here’s my version-

75g softened Butter
4 Bananas (mash 3 of them and break one up into small chunks)
200g Brown sugar
1 Egg
A 5cm knob of fresh Ginger (peeled and finely grated
rind of one Orange
1 teaspoon of Baking Soda
170g plain Flour
A pinch of Salt 

Mix together the Butter, Brown sugar, Egg, Ginger and Orange rind. Sift together the Flour, Salt and Baking Soda and add to the mixture. Pour into a lined loaf tin and bake at 180 degrees for about an hour.

The relatively large amount of Sugar in this gives it a deliciously dark caramely flavour. It’s quite a moist, crumbly loaf. Totally delicious and totally addictive.