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3 overripe bananas (they should be just ahead of science project stage. Well, at least ripe. If the skins are totally black, toss them. But if there's yellow on them, you're good. I've done this with everything from nicely ripe to a day before it's time for the bin. According to the original recipe, you can freeze and partially thaw newer bananas. I've never tried that. Banana bread is not something you make in an emergency.)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves.
If you like nuts in your bread, you can throw in 1 cup of walnuts. I do not like nuts in my bread. However, I do often like chocolate in my bread and put in a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chunks or morsels. Elvis fans may use the peanut butter flavored chips. I don't.
The original recipe (from Anne McCaffrey's Serve it Forth cookbook) has all kinds of complex instructions involving more bowls than I think are necessary. I am providing my assembly instructions.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
butter and flour a loaf pan. I have also done this in a regular cake pan, muffin tins, and a tube pan. It's pretty forgiving, that way. The recipe recommends lining the inside of a loaf pan with foil and spraying it with non-stick cooking spray to make clean up easier. it works, but the outer surface of the bread looks all wrinkly. I like a smooth outer surface, so no foil.
So, now you're ready for the actual mixing.
Pour the milk into a mixing bowl. Add chunks of banana. With a mixer, whip it up seriously until you have something that looks like a banana milkshake.
That was the hard part. Really.
Now add the rest of the ingredients in the order listed, mixing well after each.
Pour it into the baking pan. I usually remember to throw a little raw sugar onto the top of the batter before I put it in the oven, for a bit of extra crisp, but it's not necessary.
Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
If you use chocolate or peanut butter chips, it's harder to judge doneness, because they will show on the toothpick and you might have trouble deciding if there's any banana bread goo. You might want to use the spring-back method of doneness testing for those varieties.
Cool for about 15 minutes in the pan on top of a cooling rack. It will shrink away a bit from the sides, but run a sharp knife around before you invert the pan to take it out. I have only had a (minor) issue with releasing once. Butter and flour the heck out of that pan! Cool completely (upright, you don't want marks on the top!)
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