Self Rising Flour Banana Bread

Here is an easy recipe for self rising flour banana bread. It is an unique twist on banana bread because it tastes more like a cake. Due to the softer flour and type of leavening agents used in self rising flour, banana breads made with self rising flour come out softer & fluffier… more like a banana cake (versus a typical dense banana bread).

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

Self rising flour also makes recipes easier because it already contains flour, salt and leavening agents (which help the rise). That means you need fewer ingredients on hand to make a delicious banana bread.

My recipe is perfect if you have some extra self rising flour at home and want to make a tasty snack or dessert. It is best for people who like to make self rising flour biscuits & pancakes… and who now are looking for other fun ideas for their self rising flour!

Slices Of Banana Bread Made With Self Rising Flour

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups – Mashed Bananas (ripe) – 345 grams – This is roughly 3 large bananas but use exactly 1 1/2 cups for the best & most consistent results.
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 115 milliliters – Use a neutral tasting vegetable oil such as corn or mild/light olive oil. Do not use strongly flavored oil or old oil. For more info, see the tips below.
• 2 Eggs – 114 grams – Large eggs (not extra large or jumbo eggs).
• 1 Cup – Light Brown Sugar – 215 grams – Light brown sugar adds a richer taste than white sugar. See the tips section below for other reasons on why to use light brown sugar for this recipe.
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 2 Cups – Self Rising Flour – 240 grams – Self rising flour is NOT all purpose flour. Self rising flour includes added salt and leavening agents (and all purpose flour does not). See the tips section below for more info.
• Optional – 1 Teaspoon – Ground Cinnamon – 3 grams – Some people really like to add ground cinnamon to the batter, especially if their bananas are not super ripe.
• Optional – 3/4 Cup of Mini Chocolate Chips (180 grams) or 1 Cup of Chopped Walnuts (115 grams) or 1 Cup of Fresh Blueberries (100 grams), etc.

To my UK and Australian visitors, US self “rising” flour is NOT the same as UK and Australian self “raising” flour. Please see my tips section below to see how to convert this recipe if you are using UK/Australian self raising flour.

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 inch metal bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven.

Batter for Self Rising Flour Banana Bread – Just Before Baking

Banana Bread Made With Self Rising Flour – Just After Baking

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (163 degrees C).
• Mash bananas with a fork.
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Add the mashed bananas, vegetable oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl. Stir until completely mixed.
• Add the self rising flour to the bowl. Stir until the batter is fully mixed. FYI – I prefer to use a large spoon to mix the batter. An electric mixer can overmix the batter and this can lead to gummy & rubbery banana breads.
• Optional – Add extra ingredients (e.g. chocolate chips or chopped walnuts) to the batter. Stir until they are completely mixed into the batter.
• Pour the finished batter into a nonstick bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter within the bread pan.
• Bake in the oven at 325 F (163 C) for 65-70 minutes.
• Take pan out of the oven and let the banana bread cool down in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Do not remove the banana bread from the bread pan during this 10 minute cool down period. Use oven mitts as the bread pan will be very hot coming out of the oven. FYI – Do not skip this step as the “cool down” completes the baking process.
• After 10 minutes, remove the banana bread from the bread pan. Place the banana bread on a cooling rack in order to completely cool. This cooldown can take 1 to 2 hours.
• Please READ the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common banana bread problems.

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Non-Aluminum Self Rising Flour – See Tips Section Below On Why To Use

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help banana bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include my tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Banana Bread Recipes such as classic banana bread, eggless banana bread and blueberry banana bread.

• Warning – A banana bread made with self rising flour tastes more like a banana cake and less like a traditional dense banana bread. If you are looking for the traditional taste of banana bread (e.g. like my Classic Banana Bread), you should make a banana bread with all purpose flour and not self rising flour.
• Important – This recipe uses self rising flour. Self rising flour is NOT the same as all purpose flour. Self rising flour includes added salt and leavening agents in the package. All purpose flour does NOT contain added salt and leavening agents. Self rising was designed for convenience and this eliminated the need to have on hand or to measure out any extra salt or leavening agents (e.g. baking powder).

• Self rising flour uses lower protein flour (versus all purpose flour). This lower protein flour creates a more cake-like banana bread. Self rising flour is usually made from soft wheat flour that has a protein level around 8% to 9%. In contrast, all purpose flour has a protein level around 10 to 12% (and bread flour has a protein level around 12% to 14%). FYI – Cake flour has a protein level around 6% to 8%.
• Since self rising flour is made from lower protein flour, this means that it has less gluten and thus a softer texture (more cake-like). In contrast, higher protein flours (e.g. bread flour) generate more gluten and a chewier texture (more bread-like).
• In addition, 2 cups of self rising flour usually contain roughly 3 teaspoons of double acting baking powder. This results in the banana bread rising twice (once when the baking powder is in contact with a liquid and again when the banana bread is baked). This double release of CO2 (carbon dioxide) helps to create a softer & fluffier banana bread.
• FYI – You typically will not see the term baking powder on the self rising flour ingredient label. Instead, manufacturers generally list the underlying components that make up baking powder. Baking powder consists of baking soda and an acid activator (usually either monocalcium phosphate or sodium aluminum phosphate).
• I recommended using a self rising flour that does NOT contain aluminum (see my photo of a self rising flour package above). Since self rising flour contains a fair amount of baking powder, baking powders made with aluminum-based ingredients (e.g. sodium aluminum phosphate) can sometimes add a metallic taste to the banana bread.
• I like to use light brown sugar when making this recipe. The slight acidity of light brown sugar helps to neutralize or minimize any metallic taste from the baking powder in the self rising flour. More importantly, the molasses in the brown sugar helps to retain moisture (and this makes a self rising flour banana bread more tender and less dry). Brown sugar also adds a richer flavor to the banana bread.
• If you like banana cakes, you might also like my easy Cake Mix Banana Bread recipe. It uses cake mix (e.g. yellow cake mix or chocolate cake mix) to make a delicious cake-like banana bread.

• Since self rising flour banana bread tastes like a banana cake, I think typical “cake ingredients” such as chocolate chips or chopped walnuts go very well with this recipe. Therefore, here are some optional ingredients that you can add to your self rising flour banana bread.
• Optional – Add 1 cup of chopped walnuts or chopped pecans to the finished batter in order to turn this recipe into a delicious self rising flour banana nut bread.
• Optional – You can add 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips if you want to make a chocolate chip banana bread with self rising flour. I like to use mini chocolate chips (instead of regular-sized chocolate chips) when making a banana bread. Why? Given their lighter weight, mini chocolate chips are usually better spread throughout the entire banana bread. In contrast, larger & heavier regular-sized chocolate chips will often sink to the bottom of banana breads.
• If you don’t have mini chocolate chips, you can use 1 cup of regular-sized chocolate chips (which is roughly the same amount of chocolate found in a 3/4 cup of mini chips because there are more “air spaces” between the larger chips). Just be aware that if you use larger & heavier chocolate chips, you might find more chocolate chips near the bottom of your banana bread.
• Optional – Or instead of chopped nuts or chocolate chips, you can use add 1 cup of fresh blueberries or cranberries. Or you can use dried fruit such as raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, etc.
• Optional – If your bananas are not super ripe, some of my visitors like to mix 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon into the banana bread batter. The ground cinnamon helps to “help” any missing banana flavor.
• Optional – If you like less sweet banana breads or your bananas are very ripe and thus contain lots of natural sugars, you can use 2/3 or 3/4 cup of sugar (instead of 1 cup).
• Visitors – What extra ingredients do you like to add to banana bread made with self rising flour? Chocolate chips? Chopped walnuts? Fruit? Extra spices (e.g. nutmeg) Icing? Please post your self rising flour banana bread tips & suggestions in the comment section below.

• I knew that self rising flour was popular in the southern United States. People in the southern US like to use self rising flour in order to make biscuits, pancakes, etc.
• However, I did not realize this type of flour is also popular in the UK and Australia (where it is known as “self raising flour”). If anyone knows the history on why self raising flour became popular in the UK & Australia, please leave a comment below.
• For my UK & Australian visitors (and NOT my US visitors) – If you want to use UK/Australian “self raising flour” (instead of US self rising flour) to make this banana bread, you need to also add 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) of salt to this recipe.
• Difference between self “rising” flour and self “raising” flour – UK/Australian self raising flour does NOT have any added salt (it just consists of flour & leavening agents) whereas US self rising flour contains added salt as well as flour and leavening agents. Therefore, you need add some salt to a recipe, if you try to use UK/Australian self raising flour (that doesn’t contain added salt) in order to make a US recipe that uses self rising flour (that contains added salt).
• According to Wikipedia, “In English-speaking countries, self-raising (or self-rising in North America) flour is commercially available with chemical leavening agents already in the mix. In America, it is also likely to be pre-salted; in Britain this is not the case.”
• Visitors – Beyond using self rising flour to make banana bread, what do you like to make with self rising flour (or self raising flour)? Biscuits? Pancakes? Scones? Muffins? Other? Please post your self rising flour (or self raising flour) baking ideas in the comment section below.

• Use RIPE bananas for the BEST flavor. Ripe bananas are soft and have a yellow peel covered with many small black spots.
• Hard bananas with yellow/green(ish) peels are too starchy and have much less banana flavor.
• FYI – A beautiful pure yellow banana (without any spots) is not fully ripe!!
• Using UNRIPE bananas will result in a bland banana bread (with little banana flavor).
• For the most consistent & best results, you should use a measuring cup and measure out EXACTLY 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas. This will help to prevent your banana bread from being too dry or too wet. Given the variability in banana sizes, you are more likely to have problems if you use 3 random-sized bananas (as you might be adding too much or too little liquid) versus using exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas.

• Use a neutral-flavored vegetable oil (e.g. corn oil) for the best results when making this banana bread recipe. Strongly flavored oils (such as extra virgin olive oil) can negatively impact the flavor of the banana bread.
• If you want to use olive oil (e.g. for health reasons), I would recommend using a “mild” or “light” olive oil as it would have the least impact on the flavor of the banana bread.
• A number of my visitors like to use avocado oil to make their banana bread. Avocado oil has a neutral flavor and is high in monounsaturated fats. However, as you are probably aware, avocado oil is usually significantly more expensive than corn oil.
• Visitors – What vegetable oil do you like to use when making a banana bread? Corn oil? Mild/light olive oil? Canola oil? Coconut oil? Avocado oil? Please post your oil thoughts & suggestions in the comment section below.

• FYI – Banana breads made with oil tend to taste MOISTER than banana breads made with butter. The main reason is because vegetable oil remains liquid at room temperature whereas butter turns back to a solid at room temperature. Therefore, the use of vegetable oil helps to create a moist banana bread.
• Moreover, about 15-20% of butter is water and some of this evaporates during the baking process (leading to a drier banana bread). In contrast, very little or none of the oil evaporates during the baking process.
• Of course, if you prefer to use butter to make your banana bread then use an equivalent amount of softened/melted butter (1/2 cup). Butter creates a more flavorful (modestly buttery) but slightly drier banana bread. Whereas oil is used generally to create a moist banana bread recipe.
• FYI – Some of my visitors like to use a 50/50 blend of oil and butter because they are trying to get the best of both ingredients (more flavor & more moistness).
• I prefer to use vegetable oil (versus butter) when making a banana bread with self rising flour. Why? Given the use of lower protein self rising flour, self rising flour banana breads can taste a little dry. I think self rising flour banana bread needs the “moistness” boost from vegetable oil in order to offset any potential dryness.

• Store your ingredients (e.g. flour & sugar) in airtight containers to avoid “funky” flavors & smells being added to your baked goods. Airtight containers also prevent contamination by dust, pests, etc.
• Flour also absorbs moisture from the air (if the flour is kept in an open bag and not an airtight container). This extra moisture can throw off recipes and leads to overly wet batter and/or underbaked banana bread.
• This airtight storage is doubly important for self rising flour because this absorbed moisture will not only throw off recipes (by disrupting the liquid to dry ingredient ratio) but the excess moisture will also weaken the effect of the included baking powder in self rising flour. The moisture will slowly activate the baking powder and this will cause the baking powder’s leavening effect (release of CO2) to occur earlier than expected (in the open bag). Weakened/degraded baking powder means that you might only get a partial (or no) leavening when you are baking your banana bread!

• Do NOT use an electric mixer to mix your ingredients (when combining the wet and dry ingredients). Stick to an old fashioned wooden spoon. An electric mixer can overmix the ingredients and the banana bread will turn out rubbery & gummy.
• Make sure to use level teaspoons & tablespoons when measuring ingredients (such as flour and baking soda). You can level off the ingredients in a measuring spoon or cup with the flat back of a butter knife or similar utensil. No “mountains” of ingredients in your measuring spoons & cups!! Adding too much of an ingredient can lead to recipe problems (such as too much flour can result in overly dry baked goods).
• Many of my international visitors like to use a kitchen scale in order to more accurate measure their ingredients.

• To prevent your banana bread from sticking to the bottom of the bread pan, you should consider either “greasing” the bottom of the pan with butter or vegetable oil, using a cooking spray, using a nonstick pan or lining the interior of the bread pan with baking parchment paper.
• Some ingredients (such as chocolate & blueberries) are very sticky after the baking process. These ingredients often make the bottom of a banana bread hard to get out of the pan (without damaging the banana bread). Baking parchment paper is probably the best method for avoiding the problem of a potentially sticky “bottom”.
• If you want to avoid smudging the top of your banana bread (e.g. when it is covered with warm chocolate chips), you should use baking parchment paper (lining the interior of the bread pan). Baking parchment paper makes it easy for you to lift the banana bread out of the bread pan (without having to flip the bread pan upside down to remove the banana bread).
• FYI – Baking parchment paper is NOT regular paper. It is a specialty paper designed for use with baking.
• If you are looking to make a “moister” banana bread, check out my oven baked recipe for Super Moist Banana Bread. FYI – It uses all purpose flour and not self rising flour.

• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this quick bread could come out undercooked. I like to use a hanging oven thermometer to check my oven temperature and ensure the oven has been properly preheated.
• It takes roughly 10-20 minutes to preheat most ovens with some variability due to the size of the oven, planned baking temperature (hotter takes longer), etc.
• FYI – Do not open your oven during the baking process in order to “check” on the banana bread. This will allow the hot air to escape & cold air to rush in and this can cause your banana bread to collapse.

• This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the banana bread looks too moist or undercooked, you should try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a long wooden skewer into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the wooden skewer. If batter is sticking to the skewer then it hasn’t completely cooked. Place the bread pan back into the still hot oven for another 2 or 3 minutes. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan will be very hot. After the 2 or 3 minutes, remove the bread pan and test the banana bread again with the wooden skewer.
• Instead of the “toothpick test”, some people like to use a bread thermometer to test if their banana bread is done. Generally, a “quick bread” (e.g. banana bread or pumpkin bread) is done when the internal temperature reaches 200-205 degrees F. Just make sure to measure the temperature in the center of the loaf for the most accurate reading.
• Problem with a sunken or collapsed middle in your banana bread? Then check out my Why Does My Banana Bread Sink In The Middle? page for reasons & potential solutions.
• Long-term storage – If you want to keep your banana bread for more than 1-2 days (depending on your home’s temperature & humidity), you will need to freeze it. Please read Bread Dad’s How To Freeze Banana Bread for more details.

• In case, you didn’t see this in the “equipment used to make this recipe” section, this recipe is based on using a standard 9 by 5 inch metal bread pan. This means that the interior of the bread pan (not exterior) measures 9 inches in length, 5 inches in width and 2 1/2 inches in depth/height. Of course, Bread Dads are crazy about exact measurements… thus the use of measuring tapes! Ha!
• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 inch bread pan to make this recipe. If you start using different sized pans, there is a greater potential for bread top collapses (potentially less bread pan “wall” support for the quick bread as it rises), different interior batter to exterior crust ratios (thus the need for different baking lengths), smaller pans are more likely to overflow, etc.
• My recipes are based on using a metal bread pan and NOT a glass bread pan. Glass bread pans bake faster than metal bread pans. If you use a glass bread pan for my recipes, you are more likely to overbake your banana bread (e.g. burnt crust).

• My recipes are based on using a regular oven and NOT a convection oven. Convection ovens bake faster than regular ovens and require less baking time than what is stated in my recipes.
• Place your banana bread in the middle of your oven. If you place it on the top or bottom racks, the banana bread may be too near the oven’s heating element and bake faster than expected.
• If you have a problem with a banana bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (e.g. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.

• If you like banana bread then check out my Easy Muffin Recipes section. Banana muffins are basically mini banana breads! Banana muffins make great snacks & are much quicker to bake versus larger banana breads.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a hot oven and bread pan.
• For more delicious banana bread recipes (e.g. banana nut bread or eggless banana bread), please visit Bread Dad’s sections on easy Banana Bread Recipes.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Baking Powder
2. Wikipedia, Banana Bread
3. Wikipedia, Flour

Related Recipes

1. Cake Mix Banana Bread
2. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
3. Easy Banana Bread
4. Eggless Banana Bread
5. No Butter Banana Bread
6. Bread Machine Banana Bread

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