Fluffy Banana Bread Recipe (Yeast)

Ever since I shared my Fluffy Banana Nut Bread Loaf for the bread machine, may of you have asked for the hand kneaded / machine kneaded version! I am really glad to hear that especially since bananas are a great addition to any loaf of bread, and gives a nice burst of flavours. Naturally, I like to add an assortment of chopped nuts into this for additional crunch and flavour. Furthermore, the subtle and natural sweetness of this Fluffy Banana Bread (Yeast) certainly pairs well with butter, cheese, jam any spreads you can think of!

When crafting this recipe, I was really mindful to make it convenient and accessible for beginners to start on. As such, unlike my usual bread recipe, this doesn’t utilise the tangzhong / water roux method. For those foreign to this method, the addition of tangzhong helps to prolong the softness of breads for up to a week. However, I don’t find this to be essential here especially since this bread is expected to have a shorter shelf lifespan (addition of fresh bananas make it spoil faster). Of note, this Fluffy Banana Bread (Yeast) is best consumed within 3 days.

Hence, this recipe is easily done using a machine (with just one main kneading step) or you can even try hand kneading it. However, I am still really used to machine kneading with a dough hook attachment to save some elbow grease.

Additionally, I recommend you to use bananas that are just ripe (not overripe). This is because during the second kneading stage when you’re distributing the chopped bananas evenly throughout the bread, overripe bananas might be mushy. Therefore, these overripe bananas might end up being squashed, and during the baking process, might combine with the dough instead of standing out as individual chunks.

I hope the video will be of help too.

Without further ado, the recipe!

Fluffy Banana Bread Recipe (Yeast)
by Javier Tan June-22-2025

Add bananas into your bread! I recommend this Fluffy Banana Bread Recipe (Yeast). Fluffy with natural sweetness, it’s heavenly!

Ingredients

For Bread:

• 2 and 3/4 Cups or 330g Bread Flour
• 1/4 Cup or 50g Granulated White Sugar (You can add up to 75g for a sweeter bun)
• 1 Large Egg, Room Temperature, 55g each
• 3/4 Teaspoon or 4g Table Salt
• 1 and 1/2 Teaspoon or 7g Instant Dry Yeast
• 1/4 Cup or 60g Unsalted Butter, Melted
• 1/2 Cup + 1 Tablespoon or 140g Milk
• Approx 2 – 3 Medium Sized Bananas, 200g, Chopped (Just ripe, don’t use overripen!)
• Approx 1/2 Cup or 45g of Nuts, Chopped

Instructions

1. In a stand mixer, mix together bread flour, sugar and salt until well-distributed. Thereafter, mix in the yeast.
2. Then, at medium speed, mix in the cooled melted butter, milk and an egg. Continue letting the stand mixer knead for 7 – 9 minutes until it passes the windowpane test. It is okay to take up to 13 – 15 minutes.
3. Next, transfer the bread to a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with some water, cover and proof until double in size, approx an hour.
4. Meanwhile, chop up the bananas (thin slices, can refer to video) and nuts.
5. Once the dough finishes proofing, poke a hole to release the air, and knead in the chopped bananas and nuts until well-distributed.
6. Transfer the dough to a baking tray (I am using 10 in x 4.5 in), and proof for a final 30 minutes.
7. Bake 180C for 24 – 30 minutes until golden brown. If the top browns too much, cover with a piece of aluminium foil.
8. Cool for 30 minutes before slciing and serving.