Sourdough Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate Chunk and Cacao Nib Crumb Topping
This banana bread uses the discard from sourdough starter instead of buttermilk or yogurt in the batter. The resulting bread is a moist bread with a sophisticated complex flavor. I use dark chocolate chunks in the dough, but feel free to use whatever chocolate you like to eat (like milk or white). Or omit the chocolate and use nuts instead. I have a section above on suggestions for substitutions.
2tablespoonsturbinado sugaror substitute additional 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2teaspoonground cardamomor cinnamon
1/4teaspooncinnamon
3tablespoonscacao nibsor chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts
6tablespoonscold unsalted butter85 g
Banana Bread Batter
1/2cupunsalted butter at room temperature115 g or 1 stick
3/4cuppacked dark brown sugar165 g
2tablespoonextra virgin olive oil
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonkosher salt
1/2teaspoonground cardamomor cinnamon
2large eggs
3/4cupsourdough starter discard175 g (see section above)
1cupmashed ripe bananas300 g or about 3 medium bananas
1cupall-purpose flour140 g
1cupwhole wheat flour150 g (you can substitute all-purpose if you want)
3/4cupchopped dark chocolate chunks125 g
Instructions
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 4 or 9 x 5 loaf pan with cooking spray, then line with parchment paper, leaving about 1 to 2 inches of paper overhanging the edges of the pan.
Make the crumb topping by placing the flour, both sugars, cardamom, cinnamon, cacao nibs in a medium sized bowl. Cut the butter into 1/4-inch chunks and sprinkle over the ingredients. Using your fingers and smash the butter together with the ingredients, mixing it all together. Work the butter into the dry ingredients until it starts to clump together into lumps. Place in the fridge while you make the batter.
Place the butter, brown sugar, olive oil, vanilla, baking soda, salt and cardamom in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat together on medium speed until the batter looks light and fluffy in color and clings to the side of the bowl. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, waiting until the first egg is incorporated and scraping down the sides and bottom before adding the second one. Don’t worry if the batters starts to look “broken”. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the mashed bananas the batter and mix in. The batter will start to look super weird and very broken, but again don't worry! Again scrape down the sides and bottom and add the sourdough starter discard. Mix and scrape down one more time.
Add both flours to batter and mix on slow speed until the flour is absorbed. At this point the batter should come together and look normal.
Fold in the chocolate chunks by hand, with a spatula. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread the top so it’s smooth.
Sprinkle the crumb topping all over the top of the batter, breaking up any large chunks into smaller pebble size pieces. Place the pan on a heavy rimmed baking sheet. This will help you move the pan in and out of the oven, as well as insulate the bottom of the pan to keep the bottom from burning.
Bake the banana bread for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a tooth pick or skewer inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. If you have an instant read thermometer, the center of the banana bread should be around 195 to 200°F.
Let the bread cool on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes, then remove it by grabbing the sides of the parchment paper and lifting the bread straight up from the pan. Let the bread cool completely on a wire rack before peeling off the paper and slicing into it.
Notes
If you don't have whole wheat flour, just increase the amount of all-purpose flour to 2 cups or 280 g.