Chocolate Banana Bread

Chocolate banana bread sneaks dessert flavors into a proper yeast loaf. A cup of mashed ripe banana and a generous tablespoon and a half of cocoa powder go straight into the bread flour dough, giving the finished loaf a tan-brown color and a subtle sweet-chocolate hum. A teaspoon and a half of cinnamon ties everything together with cozy warmth.

What sets this apart from a banana quick bread is the structure. Yeast and three cups of bread flour build a sliceable, toastable loaf that holds its shape and doesn’t crumble under butter or peanut butter.

Use bananas with heavy brown spotting. Pale yellow fruit lacks the sugar and aroma that drive this recipe.

Kitchen Tips

• Soften the butter before adding. Cold butter doesn’t disperse evenly through the dough and leaves greasy streaks.
• Sift the cocoa powder before measuring, the powder clumps and sometimes refuses to mix in fully without a pre-sift.
• Stir the chopped walnuts in at the add-in beep, not at the start. Walnuts thrown in at the beginning get pulverized by the kneading paddle and lose their crunch.
• Cool completely on a rack before slicing. Slicing warm chocolate banana bread tears the crumb, full cool gives clean, even slices.

Variations

• Stir in a third of a cup of mini chocolate chips for double chocolate.
• Swap walnuts for toasted pecans or hazelnuts for different nutty notes.
• Replace the cocoa with carob powder for a caffeine-free, slightly sweeter version.