Classic banana bread with a twist! The addition of sourdough discard adds moisture and a touch of tang to offset the sweetness. This Sourdough Banana Bread is sweet and tender – a perfect way to use up any extra sourdough starter!

Banana bread is a kitchen staple that everyone has their own recipe for. I often find banana bread to be either too stodgy and dense or dry and over-baked. This particular version contains loads of mashed bananas as well as sourdough discard to really ensure a moist, tender crumb. What I love about using sourdough discard in this recipe is the ever so slight tang that the discard lends to the bread. It offsets the warm sweetness of the cinnamon. Toasted, chopped nuts or chocolate chips can be added for extra texture and flavor. And if you love this recipe, be sure to try my Greek Yogurt Banana Bread and Banana Bread Muffins!

WHY SOURDOUGH STARTER IN BANANA BREAD?

Flavor! The primary reason I like to use sourdough discard in recipes is for flavor. The complex fermented flavor of sourdough really plays nicely in baked goods to help balance out sweetness.
Texture! Sourdough discard adds moisture to recipes and can even make them more tender if incorporated correctly.
Economy! Whenever you are feeding and maintaining a sourdough starter, there is always discard to reckon with. Instead of tossing it, I keep a cache in the refrigerator and use it in all sorts of recipes like my Easy One Bowl Sourdough Brownies, Sourdough Lemon Bars and even Sourdough Pie Crust!

Looking down into a jar of sourdough discard

HOW THIS RECIPE COMES TOGETHER

1. Whisk all dry ingredients. This recipe calls for the reverse creaming method. So the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, brown and granulated sugars are first whisked well together.
2. Add the butter. Next, cubed room temperature butter is added to the dry ingredients and beaten or “creamed” for a couple of minutes until the mixture looks like damp sand.
3. Add the wet ingredients. Room temperature eggs, sourdough discard, mashed bananas and vanilla extract are whisked well together and then slowly added to the dry ingredients.
4. Add any additions. At this point, chopped nuts or chocolate chips can be added to the banana bread batter.
5. Bake! The banana bread is baked for about an hour in a 350 degree F oven.

A slice of sourdough banana bread from the loaf

Sourdough banana bread sliced on a plate

INGREDIENTS & NOTES

1. Why salted butter? I prefer using salted butter when baking because it has more flavor. If you are sensitive to salt, use unsalted butter instead. The salt in the recipe can also be increased from 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp if using unsalted butter.
2. Why room temperature ingredients? The butter, eggs and sourdough discard in the recipe should all be at room temperature before mixing the batter. A more cohesive banana bread batter will form when ingredients are not cold.
3. Banana bread additions. Milk, semi sweet or dark chocolate chips are my personal favorite addition to banana bread. Toasted, chopped walnuts or pecans are a close second.
4. Reverse creaming. As stated above, this recipe uses the reverse creaming method. In a typical recipe, the butter and sugar are beaten together first. With this method, the dry ingredients, including the sugars, are actually “creamed” with the butter first. The butter will slowly hydrate the dry ingredients and become sort of sandy before the eggs, sourdough discard, bananas and vanilla are added. What I love about this method is it ensures a more tender crumb that doesn’t dry out or become tough when baked. This method is also much quicker and more efficient than the traditional creaming method.
5. Pan selection. A typical 9 x 5 loaf pan can be used to bake this banana bread in. I actually prefer to bake my quick breads in a 9 x 4 pullman loaf pan. The taller sides make the slices of banana bread look as though they came out of a fancy café. Note that the banana bread will take a bit longer to bake in a pullman loaf pan.