Hefeweizen Banana Bread

Banana bread. It is certainly getting lots of attention as one of the best baking treats of 2020. And why shouldn’t it? Heaven knows we all have aging bananas laying around. And when those sad products can be transformed into the magical goodie that is banana bread – it’s a no brainer.

I’ve made lots of banana bread over the years. And in that time, I’ve been trying to think of a new “spin” for this amazing product. Enter… Hefeweizen beer.

I rarely drink beer these days (my go-to is wine or bourbon), but a freshly tapped German Hefeweizen is one thing I won’t pass up (especially if it’s in the Biergarten at Hofbrauhaus). And of course, the predominant flavor in Hefeweizen is bananas, with a hint of clove and other spices.

I always hear about banana bread used with stout or other dark beers, but I hadn’t heard of a Hefeweizen banana bread. So… I started thinking – could I utilize this amazing beer into banana bread? What would the results be?

After a little research, I found a solid base recipe from Macheesmo – Guinness stout banana bread. I swapped the stout for Hefeweizen, added clove and cinnamon accent spices, plus a little vanilla, and baked it all up. The result? The most banana-y banana bread I’ve ever eaten. If you love banana flavor, this bread knocks it out of the park. And the spices give it a wonderful, warm note on the back end.

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think!

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Hefeweizen Banana Bread

Yields 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed

• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar

• 1/4 cup (50 g) brown sugar

• 1 large egg, room temperature

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• ½ cup Hefeweizen beer, room temperature

• 2 ¼ cups (281 g) all-purpose flour

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking soda

• ¾ tsp cloves

• ¼ tsp cinnamon

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9x5 loaf pan with non-stick spray.

2. In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cloves and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, combine bananas and sugars. Mix in the eggs one at a time until combined. Stir in vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

4. Add in the Hefeweizen and stir until integrated. Gently mix in the melted butter. Work quickly to preserve the carbonation in the beer – don’t leave this bread sitting on the counter too long, get in the oven as soon as possible.

5. Transfer the batter to prepared loaf pan. Bake banana bread for 60-65 minutes until the crust is nicely browned and a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

6. Let loaf cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove it from pan and let cool for another 10 minutes before slicing.

7. Store leftover banana bread at room temperature in an airtight container for up to four days. This bread also freezes amazingly well – store in an airtight container for up to a month.