High-Altitude Banana Bread Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

How to adjust baking for high altitude? ›

Raise the oven temperature by 15 to 25° F. Because goods will bake faster at a higher temperature, set your time for 5 to 8 minutes less per 30 minutes of baking time in the recipe. Increase your liquid. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons at 3000 feet and an additional 1 1/2 teaspoons for every additional 1000 feet of elevation.

Baking soda works best in conjunction with an acidic ingredient. In the case of banana bread, this may be buttermilk, brown sugar, molasses or the bananas themselves. Recipes generally include just enough baking soda to balance the acidity in the batter.

Once a loaf of banana bread is fully baked and taken out of the oven, it's crucial to allow it to fully cool. Banana bread retains heat, especially in the center of the loaf. If the loaf is still warm once it's wrapped for storage, condensation can form, which can lead to mold.

Fight the urge to use more banana than called for in your recipe. Using too much banana could make your bread heavy and damp in the center, causing it to appear undercooked and unappealing. If you have bananas leftover, you can always freeze them for later use.

Real Quick: How to Adjust Bread Baking For High Altitude

Increase oven temperature by 25 degrees over what the recipe calls for. Generally, increase baking time unless oven temperature increases. Generally, increase hydration. Sometimes a decrease, but not always.

For all altitudes, add up to 2 tablespoons more flour per cup called for in the recipe.

Using too much baking soda or baking powder can really mess up a recipe, causing it to rise uncontrollably and taste terrible.

Too much baking powder can cause the batter to be bitter tasting. It can also cause the batter to rise rapidly and then collapse. (i.e. The air bubbles in the batter grow too large and break causing the batter to fall.)

Too much leavening can cause the bread to rise up too much and this will cause it to sink back as it cools. If you are having problems still then you could try making banana muffins instead. It is easier to make sure these are baked through properly (again use a cake tester to check).

Timing: It is generally recommended to refrigerate the batter for no more than 24 hours [1]. Beyond that, the leavening agents in the batter may lose their effectiveness, resulting in a denser final product. Flavor development: Refrigerating the batter overnight can actually enhance the flavor of the banana bread.

Why did my banana bread come out rubbery? ›

Over mixing the batter

The reason is as you mix, the gluten begins to develop, and when too much development happens, you can end up with a dense, chewy loaf rather than the soft and delicious banana bread you were hoping for.

It is pretty simple to salvage an undercooked bread and create a decent loaf. Heat the oven to 350 F, return the bread to the oven, and bake for another 10 to 20 minutes. This will work even if the loaf has cooled, which is similar to par-baking bread.

Adding more eggs makes for a spongy, less flavorful banana bread. Doubling the number of eggs I was using resulted in a spongy cake with a moist texture. While the banana flavor was present, it wasn't as prominent as it was in other loaves. This had more of a hint of flavor.

Bananas can go from yellow with brown spots to totally black and still be okay to eat and use for baking. In fact, black bananas are some of the best for making banana bread because they have developed more sugar as they sit around and therefore taste sweeter. They may also be moister, which is perfect for baked goods.

Baking at High Altitudes

Air pressure is lower, so foods take longer to bake. Temperatures and/or bake times may need to be increased. Liquids evaporate faster, so amounts of flour, sugar and liquids may need to be changed to prevent batter that is too moist, dry or gummy. Gases expand more, so doughs rise faster.

Decrease active ingredients.

Many baking recipes use leaveners such as baking powder, baking soda, and yeast. However, at Colorado's altitude, these ingredients actually work faster, so depending on the recipe you'll want to decrease their amounts by 25 to 50 percent, suggests Villagrana.

One way to adjust for high altitudes is to increase the heat in your oven when baking. Increase the oven temperature by 15–25ºF when you are 3,500+ ft above sea level. For example, if you are 8,500 ft. above sea level and a recipe calls for you to preheat your oven to 350ºF, you would adjust the temperature to 375º F.