Banana Bread Storing and Ingredients

Our answer

Fortunately Nigella's Banana Bread (from Domestic Goddess and on the Nigella website) keeps very well and will stay moist for 5 to 6 days. Generally there is no need to refrigerate the Banana Bread, you can keep it in an airtight container in a cool place. Some people like to wrap the bread in clingfilm (plastic wrap) before putting it in the container. Make sure that the bread is fully cooled before storing, as if it is enclosed while still warm then condensation will gather on the surface of the bread and this can lead to mould forming very quickly. If you live in a hot climate then you may prefer to keep the bread in a container in the fridge as if the bread is kept in a warm place it can ferment after a few days.

As the Banana Bread is made with melted butter it could be possible to replace some of the butter with oil, but unfortunately it is not a straight substitution as butter contains around 70% fat and 30% milk solids so you would need to use part oil and replace the rest with another dairy product. Also the butter adds flavour to the bread and this would be lost with oil. We would instead suggest trying Nigella's Italian Breakfast Banana Bread from Nigellissima (p188), which is made with vegetable oil. A mild and light olive oil could also be used to make this bread but we would tend to avoid regular and extra virgin olive oil in most baking as the flavour of the oil can be a little too overpowering.