I’m a little surprised so many people had a hard time with this or it didn’t turn out right for them. I’m fairly new to making bread, but I followed the recipe exactly (minus being a tad shy on walnuts), and I didn’t have any problems. I had a little “dust” on one end and side of the loaf where some dry ingredients didn’t get all the way mixed in, but it brushed off and didn’t seem to hurt anything. I didn’t necessarily LOVE this recipe, but it was good. It may just be my bread machine too, but this had a bit more of a crust to the outsides than what I would want on a banana bread. It was my first time making quick bread in my machine too though. That being said, the inside was soft and delicious. I didn’t have any problem with chocolate chips melting and getting mixed into the bread turning it brown like one person mentioned, and the banana taste was a tad mild, but definitely there, for me. I would make this again, but hope I can find a way to soften up the outside to make it more to my liking. It was really easy to make with these instructions though.
I feel bad for low-rating this recipe, because I did change it...I doubled the filling as others suggested, and used 1tsp of bread machine yeast as that was the conversion for instant yeast vs. active dry yeast. I'm not sure where I went wrong, but my dough didn't rise and I basically ended up with 2 cinnamon roll logs. They didn't taste terrible, but it would've been nice if they had some more air in them.
However, oven-baked banana breads are a little more forgiving as you can stir more gently if needed (and thus less crushed fruit or shattered chocolate chips). In addition, oven-baked banana breads will not have a bread machine mixing paddle “hole” in the bottom. For oven-baked banana bread recipes, please visit our Easy Banana Bread Variations section.
