No Comparison

Growing up I don’t ever remember eating anyone elses baking except my mothers. She baked for all the neighbors. So when I would go over and play with the neighbor kids I was either eating my own mother’s cookies or store bought ones. So I really had no comparison.
So I went off to college and quickly choose banana bread one morning for breakfast. It tasted nothing like my mother’s and I chalked it up to just being bad cafeteria food. We had many local cafe’s and so one time while on a coffee run I bought a slice of banana bread. Nope, didn’t taste like hers. I repeated this process many times until I finally broke down and told my mom that no one makes banana bread like her. She just smiled and said that is because I make mine with Graham flour. What the heck was that I thought. My mom explained that it was a wheat flour that she could not actually find in Arizona so my aunt would have to send it to her(which is why we didn’t get banana bread all that often). You can find it quite easily now a days. I use Bob’s Red Mill Graham Flour.
Since it is what I grew up on it is still the way I like to make banana bread.

Graham Flour Banana Bread

1/3 cup shortening(don’t use butter…it isn’t the same in this recipe)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup graham flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 cup or more of chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F
In a large bowl cream together the shortening and sugars. Add the eggs and beat well. Sift together the flours, baking soda, salt, baking powder and add to creamed mixture. Stir until mixed. Stir in bananas and walnuts.
Pour into well greased(and lightly floured) 9X5X3″ pan. Bake for about 50 minutes or until done.

Source: my mom