Why It's Important To Let Your Banana Bread Rest The Right Way

You've used the ripest bananas possible and mashed them until luscious. You've mixed your dry and wet ingredients in the correct order and used just enough flour to bring the batter together. You've even blanketed in foil during the last stage of baking, the secret method for adding extra moisture to banana bread. You've avoided all the common banana bread mistakes, and yet, you still aren't satisfied with your result.

When following your favorite classic banana bread recipe, the steps you take after baking are just as important as those you take during the mixing stage. If you've ever ended up with banana bread that's mushy — or worse, moldy a few hours after being wrapped in plastic — it's probably because you didn't let it cool properly after taking it out of the oven. Though your hunger pangs may disagree, after almost an hour at a very high temperature, your banana bread needs to rest. Yes, the key to a perfectly soft, sliceable banana bread is letting it cool completely when it is done. 

According to Livestrong, while banana bread is baking, the heat causes the sugars in the fruit to caramelize and create a sticky, hard-to-maneuver loaf while it's still hot. If you try to remove your banana bread from the loaf pan straight out of the oven, you're likely to break it. But if you leave it in the pan for too long, it will grow soggy and hard to remove in one solid loaf. How do you win?

Livestrong suggests allowing your banana bread to cool in its loaf pan for 15 minutes, as the brief "cooling period allows steam to condense, which makes the bread easier to remove from the pan." Then, while the bread is still warm, Allrecipes recommends transferring it to a cooling rack to fully reach room temperature. If you place it in an airtight container or wrap it in plastic wrap before then, the moisture could cause it to get soggy or even moldy. Per Baking Kneads, after around an hour on the cooling rack, your banana bread should be ready to store for a few days while maintaining its perfectly soft, moist texture.