Banana bread is an all-time favorite for anyone who is a fan of baked goods. The whole process of making banana bread and even its storage is fun and easy and can be carried out by almost everyone.
However, knowing how to store banana bread may be unknown territory to some, and that is why we have decided to dedicate a whole article to this topic.
We’ll first discuss the contents of banana bread so that you can have a much clearer understanding of what you should be doing to store your bread and why you should be doing it.
So, without further ado, let’s jump right into it!
What’s Inside a Banana Bread?
The making of banana bread is quite similar to that of your regular out-of-the-oven bread, with the exception of a few ripe bananas thrown into the mix.
Now, the ingredients of a banana bread may typically be categorized into two types: dry ingredients and moist ingredients.
While the dry ingredients contribute the most to the preparations of good banana bread, it is the moist ingredients you should be looking out for. They include milk, ripened bananas, butter, and in some cases, an extract.
Since the moist ingredients are technically damp, they are more likely to go bad within a short amount of time, and this is actually why you need to know the process of storing banana bread properly.
Best Ways to Store Banana Bread
Storage of banana bread is pretty easy and will not require you to buy any additional boxes or apparatus to carry it out. We will be telling you about three different techniques which, if followed correctly, will help you store your banana bread and keep it fresh for longer. Read on to see what they are:
1. Refrigerate It
Keeping your banana bread in the fridge will keep it fresh and edible for a pretty long time. However, you cannot just place the bread in a box and then stow it away in your fridge as this will cause the dry, cool air of the refrigerator to seep into the bread and dry it out.
In order to lock the moisture inside the bread, wrap it tightly with cling wrap after it has been cooled at room temperature. Do make sure that the bread is at a relatively low temperature before you cover it because draping it while it is still too warm will trap in too much humidity and make the bread mushy.
2. Keep It on Your Kitchen Counter
Contrary to when it is kept in the fridge, banana bread will only stay fresh for up to 4-5 days when it is left at room temperature. However, we can guarantee you that during this time span, your banana bread will taste just like it did on the first day.
Needless to say, you should be aware of molds forming on your bread when it is kept outside. Hence, remember to change its positioning every few hours of the day so that moisture does not become concentrated at any one place; doing this will also increase the shelf life of your banana bread a bit more.
We would advise you to store the bread in a fridge within two or three days from baking, or simply finish it up while it still tastes fresh- this is the easiest route to take!
Nevertheless, if you still want your banana bread to last for longer than four days on the countertop, place it in an airtight box with a lid that can be locked. By doing so, you will be providing your banana bread with the opportunity to breathe, thus preventing it from getting too sodden.
If you choose to store your bread in a container, be sure to wrap it lightly with a napkin as the cloth will absorb excess vapor, which might otherwise be present in the container and consequently prevent your bread from going bad too early.
3. Freeze Your Bread
This is by far the best way to preserve your banana bread because freezing it will keep it fresh and edible for up to 90 days! Before putting it in the freezer, let the banana bread cool down a bit and then wrap it with cling wrap (similar to what you did before putting it in the refrigerator).
Whenever you feel like eating banana bread, simply take it out of the freezer and leave it on the kitchen table overnight in order to let it defrost.
However, if you want to eat it right away, then after taking it out of the freezer, cut it up into as many thin slices as you would like and then heat it in the oven for a quarter of an hour at around 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
You will be surprised at how fresh your banana bread will smell even though such a long time has passed since the day it was made.
Amazing Things You Can Use Your Banana Bread For
Besides just eating your banana bread by itself (which is still just as incredible), why not try eating it with different things as well and maybe even use it for other purposes?
1. Use It as a Topping
You might be thinking of this as an absurd idea, but in all honesty, it is not! Vanilla ice cream with banana bread toppings is so delicious that it will definitely leave you asking for seconds and even thirds!
In order to make the toppings, dice your leftover banana bread into small bite-sized cubes and then leave them to dry for a couple of hours after covering them with a clean napkin.
The napkin will absorb moisture from the banana bread and leave them dry. However, try not to overdo it as this might ruin the taste. Once your banana bread cubes are ready, scoop vanilla ice cream into a bowl and then pepper it with your diced pieces of bread.
To top it all off, you can even go the extra mile and drizzle some dulce de leche on your ice cream and banana bread. If you do not have dulce de leche at hand right now, any other syrup will do, or you could even go without the syrup all together.
2. Make French Toast with It
If you have leftover banana bread that is on the verge of going bad or just do not feel like eating your banana bread plain anymore, cut it up into small slices and soak the pieces in a milk and egg mixture before frying it.
You can have the banana bread French Toasts by themselves, or you could enjoy it with a glass of cold milk. Moreover, you can also trickle some honey or maple syrup on your French Toast in order to enhance the taste even more.
3. Make Sandwiches
Whether you want to eat something savory or sweet, banana bread has you covered. By sandwiching a thin slice of bacon or any other type of meat of your choice between two slices of bread, you will be able to enjoy a quick snack of a sweet, savory sandwich made from banana bread.
If you wish to have something sweet, simply make a P&B sandwich from your banana bread by coating one slice of it with a layer of peanut butter and jelly and then covering it with another slice.
Conclusion
Remember always to cover your banana bread, whether it be with cling wrap or with a napkin. Although preserving banana bread would save you from having to bake it again for a while in the future, we would still advise you not to stock it up for too long.
We hope the easy ways we just shared with you on how to store banana bread proved to be helpful to you. Thank you for reading till the end. Happy baking!