Ultimate Banana Bread - cooking recipe

Ingredients

8 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour (1 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
6 large very ripe bananas, about 2 1/4 lb
8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
5 1/4 ounces light brown sugar (3/4 cup packed)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts or 1/2 cup pecans, toasted
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350\u00b0F Spray an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan with non-stick spray.
Whisk together flour, soda and salt in a large bowl.
Peel 5 bananas and place in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, poke several holes, and microwave 5 minutes until bananas are soft and release water. Dump into a strainer set over a sauce pot and let stand about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You should have 1/2 to 3/4 c liquid.
Transfer bananas to a bowl. Boil collected liquid over medium-high heat, until reduced down to 1/4 cup. Add syrup back to bananas and mash with a potato masher. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla.
Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients. Stir until just barely combined, with a few streaks of flour showing. Add nuts and fold gently.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Slice remaining banana into 1/4\" slices on the bias. Arrange banana slices, overlapping, down the two long edges of the pan. Sprinkle top of banana slices and batter with sugar.
Bake in preheated oven, 55-75 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then remove from pan and let rest on a rack until completely cool. Tastes best the day its made, but will last up to 3 days if tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.