Learn to Make Banana Bread in a Bread Machine

What could be easier than making banana bread in a bread machine? My favorite kitchen invention in the last couple of decades is the bread machine, and it's made my life a lot easier. A bread machine not only helps make soft delicious banana bread, it allows it to stay perfectly moist through the process. A bread machine, like a crockpot, produces hot food without heating up the kitchen. In addition, bread machines generally bake bread in two to four hours, and two-hour loaves are completed on a rapid cycle.

Regular bread bakes in about 3-1/2 to 4 hours. The machine will beep in 30 to 40 minutes after you've started it. Loaves of bread that take 4 hours are generally heavier, like whole wheat breads.

Banana bread is a moist, sweet cake made from mashed bananas; the recipe surfaced in the 1930s after baking powder came on the market. It wasn't long before banana bread became a regular recipe in American cookbooks. A banana bread recipe was published in Pillsbury's 1933 Balanced Recipes cookbook and in the 1950s release of the Chiquita Banana's Recipe Book. Some food historians say banana bread was developed during the Great Depression by families who didn't want to waste overripe bananas. Other food enthusiasts believe banana bread was developed in corporate America in order to market and sell flour and baking soda products.

Now, an American tradition, banana bread even has its own day. National Banana Bread day is on Feb. 23.