How to make Banana Bread Without a Scale, Measuring Cup and Spoon

We've just been through a big move from one continent to another and, because of that, all kitchen equipment are out at sea, and any week now, should finally make their way to our shores. In the mean time, we stocked up on bananas and as they do, they all have become over ripe. Banana bread-making was inevitable but the dilemma is the lack of baking tools and utensils. However successful baking is still possible. Kids, I hope you paid attention to math and fractions in school as they do come in handy every so often.

Recipe:
2 c. (about 4 lg.) well-mashed over ripe bananas
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3/8 lb. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
3 tbsp. buttermilk
1 c. coarsely chopped pecans, dry roasted

So while that's easy enough, without the measuring cups and spoons and even the scale, it can be a challenge.

In culinary school the baking text book we worked out of had three sets of recipes for every baked good we learned to make: US (ounce, pounds), Metric (liter, grams), and % (percentage).  Professional bakers might ask what percentage of this recipe is flour ? or what percentage is sugar ? That is because baking recipes are based on ratios. If you get really good at it, you might be able to eventually tell what the consistency or texture, or taste of the product is supposed to simply be based on percentages of ingredients.
 
So, to analyze our recipe above, if we use our sugar as our base (1 cup is easy to visualize), we know that we need twice as much banana, twice as much flour, and the same amount of nuts as the sugar. The butter and eggs measurement are easy enough so we don't have to worry about them. Finally, feel free to use a dessert spoon as your teaspoon measure. It's close enough.

In other words, go ahead and use your coffee cup, a Tupperware container, or whatever you have handy. As long as you use the same exact container/cup to measure all your ingredients and as long as your proportions are correct, you can't fail.

However, I'm sure you have the proper tool to do the job, so have at it and happy baking. My banana bread turned out just fine. Crusty exterior and spongy interior, moist and full of banana flavor.



Out of the oven, it's a sigh of relief that the recipe worked using nothing but a coffee cup and a dessert spoon to measure things out.

Banana bread, side of butter.