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Banana-Hazelnut Bread
At the ultra-modern Black Isle Bakery in Berlin, owner Ruth Barry bakes a small array of simple but well-crafted treats—homey, inviting goodies such as loaf cakes, cookies, buns and tarts. We think her banana hazelnut loaf is especially delicious, the nut and fruit flavors in perfect balance and the crumb extremely moist and tender. It also happens to be dairy- and egg-free. Once cooled, the bread will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days; after that, it can be refrigerated for a couple days longer, but bring to room temperature before serving.
1
9-inch loaf
Tip
Don’t use underripe bananas. For best flavor and texture, the unpeeled bananas should be darkly speckled on the outside and very soft on the inside. Don’t over-toast the hazelnuts. Aim for lightly golden so the nuts that are chopped and sprinkled on top of the loaf don’t become too dark during baking. If you purchased already toasted/roasted hazelnuts, there’s no need to toast them—they can be used directly from the bag.
1½ hours
30 minutes active, plus cooling
Ingredients
-
98
grams (¾ cup) hazelnuts
-
210
grams (1¾ cups) cake flour
Directions
-
01Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle position. Put the hazelnuts in a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan and toast in the oven until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Cool to room temperature. If the nuts are skin-on, rub them in a clean kitchen towel to remove as much of the skins as possible (it’s fine if some of the skins remain). Roughly chop 35 grams (¼ cup) of the hazelnuts and set aside.
Reviews
January 9, 2026
Perfect
More vegan recipes please, this was a home run. I've made it several times now. It easy to vary the spices and flavors a bit to keep it fun; add a bit of cardamom and nutmeg, or use maple sugar for the top instead of white sugar, all yummy.
June 29, 2024
Unbelievable!
Why was I worried even a little bit? I needed to make a last minute treat for a vegan friend's party, but this was my first time making this recipe. I usually like to make a practice run before the big debut, but Milk Street and all my fellow commenters never do me wrong! This turned out better than I even imagined. So dang good! I cut out 2 T of sugar (used unrefined to make it vegan), and it was the right sweetness for me. All the ladies at the party wanted this recipe and I think several are going to sign up for membership. This was a good proselytizing recipe!
April 27, 2024
Moist banana bread
Delicious bread, moist and easy to make
February 20, 2024
100 stars
This is unbelievably phenomenal. Blows away any banana nut bread I have ever had.
January 15, 2023
Incredible
I didn't believe this would be that good, and I couldn't believe it when it not only was *that* good, but better than the beloved banana bread I've made all my life! I was short on hazelnuts and swapped in some almonds. Wondering if you could replace with different nuts altogether? I much more often have walnuts, pecans, almonds on hand than hazelnuts.
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I used bananas that I had frozen earlier when they got very ripe, and this worked great. The hazelnuts give the bread a very rich flavor. I would reduce the amount of sugar, though - it is a bit sweet for me.