How to Bake Banana Bread Without a Loaf Pan
“How can I make this recipe when I don’t have a loaf pan for banana bread?”
This is one of the questions a reader commented on in one of the banana recipes I’ve shared.
When you walk around your favorite bakery, you’ll see lots of packaged banana breads lined up nicely and uniform in size and shape. Banana bread is usually rectangular in shape. Therefore, when you think of making banana bread, you will automatically want to bake it using a loaf pan.
However, if you don’t have the best loaf pan for baking banana bread, you shouldn’t suppress your baking craving just yet! While loaf pans make it easy to bake banana bread, they are NOT must-haves!
Read on to learn how to make banana bread without a loaf pan.
Baking Bread Without a Loaf Pan
If you want to make banana bread or any other “quick bread” that does not involve yeast, you are likely to have a batter in a bowl instead of a ball of dough. Shaping batter like you would shape dough is nearly impossible.
How to Make Banana Bread Without a Loaf Pan
So, how do you go about baking a banana bread without a loaf pan? You would need a bread loaf pan substitute.
Here are some options.
Muffin Tin
First off, you can bake banana bread in muffin tins. While banana bread is great as a loaf, it is even more perfect as a muffin! The batter bakes faster in muffin tins and when cooked, everyone would have their own “slice” in the form of a muffin.
Scoop the batter into a muffin tin and bake it in the oven for the required time. You will end up with delicious banana bread muffins.
Cake Pan
You can use different cake pans to make banana bread in and end up with a nice round loaf.
Make sure you adjust the temperature and cooking time appropriately depending on the size of your cake pan. The larger the cake pan, the thinner your bread would be and, therefore, the shorter the baking time should be.
Follow the same procedure when making banana bread in a brownie pan.
Casserole Dish
When looking to bake banana bread, you can use a casserole dish as a substitute for a mini loaf pan. The bread will be longer and thinner.
Remember, when baking banana bread with a casserole dish, the baking time will be less since the batter will be much thinner in a larger pan
Cast Iron Skillet
Do you have a cast iron skillet? Pour your banana bread batter into it and put the utensil inside the oven for the required time. You will end up with an aesthetically pleasing loaf.
Bundt Pan
If you have a Bundt pan that you have been dying to use, this is your chance. Grease up the Bundt pan for your banana batter. The pan will work as a “bread pan”.
Generally, you can use nearly any pan that can go into the oven instead of a loaf pan to bake banana bread. Get creative and you will be surprised with how your bread will come out delicious and more interesting than when baked in a loaf pan.
What You Should Know Before Baking Banana Bread Without a Loaf Pan
A loaf pan is the best utensil for baking banana bread. However, if you do not have a loaf pan, you can use other utensils. Keep the following in mind about loaf pan substitutes for baking banana bread:
Raw Center Issues
The biggest issue you will face when baking banana bread without a loaf pan is ending up a raw center. To prevent this, reduce the temperature as well as the baking time depending on the size of the utensil you are using.
Generally, the more surface area a utensil has, the faster the baking time and the more the crust that will be formed. Keep an eye on your bread every ½ to ¾ of the recommended cooking time and check with a toothpick to see whether it’s fully baked.
TIP: When putting your banana batter into the pan, wet your fingers with some water and then gently push the mix into the corners, and away from the center. Try to get the batter to have a shallow curve away from the center so that all the edges are higher than the middle. When the banana bread rises, it will meet at the top and will not have an extreme upward curve. Moreover, the bread with baking evenly.
Banana bread recipes usually recommend using a bread pan simply because the bread will come out in the familiar horizontal shape and will be easier to slice. With a loaf pan, the bread also takes longer to bake.
Muffin pans are a popular alternative to bread pans because of their faster baking time, convenient shape and easier portioning. However, you can use any baking dish you prefer to make banana bread.
Conclusion: Baking Bread Without a Loaf Pan
Loaf pans are beneficial when you want to bake banana bread. These utensils will give you that uniform bread look that you are familiar with.
However, you can still bake banana bread without a loaf pan. In fact, you do not need the best loaf pan for baking bread for any banana bread recipe.
If you are not after the familiar horizontal shape, you can use pretty much any baking pan. Of course, you will have to adjust the banana bread recipe temperature and baking time depending on the size of your utensil.
There you go. Now you know how to make bread without a bread pan.
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