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The first thing you want to do when you are ready to start baking banana bread is to look for a basic recipe. It is a good idea to purchase an introductory cookbook, if you do not already have one. Find one that has simple, no frills recipes, as well as instructions on how to simple things properly, such as folding eggs. You are going to start with a basic recipe. But then you are going to add your own flair to it and make it your unique banana bread recipe.

There is not a whole lot of difference between basic banana bread recipes. They will all pretty much call for flour, sugar (regular or brown), eggs, butter, salt, baking soda and, you guessed it, bananas. They may differ slightly in the amounts of each ingredient. I like moist baked goods, so I will choose a variation that has greater quantities of moist ingredients, for example, a recipe that calls for more eggs.

Use the best ingredients you can, such as real butter (not margarine) and unrefined, organic sugar. Experience will teach you the proper level of ripeness for the bananas. They should be overripe, with a peel that has turned well brown.

It is a good idea to try the recipe out without any alterations first so that you are familiar with the basic flavor and the correct consistency. Then you get to have fun experimenting. Just think about what sounds good to you to add. When you have an idea, look for a recipe that includes that ingredient so you can have a guideline of how much to use.

I like chocolate chips in my quick breads, and think they are a great way to add spark to otherwise ordinary banana bread. I look for a bread recipe that calls for chocolate chips and then use that same amount in my banana bread. Be sure that the recipes you are comparing are meant to make the same amount of bread so that your amounts are not off.

But maybe you want to add walnuts too. Okay, no problem. You are just going to need to reduce the amount of chips a bit in proportion to the amount of nuts you want to add. A common mistake when baking is to alter the recipe so that the amount of batter to add-ins changes. Then the consistency of the product is going to change as well. Usually, not for the better.

Maybe you are thinking you love walnuts in banana bread, but you think pecans would be good as well. Again, no problem. If your recipe calls for a cup of walnuts, use a half cup of walnuts and a half cup of pecans. Or get really daring and use a third cup each of walnuts, pecans and almonds.

After you play around with your banana bread recipe a bit, you will find a variation that your family will not let you change. Pretty soon, the recipe is referred to as Emilys banana bread. It is the birth of a new family tradition.

Ben Cook tells you how to make banana bread in your home kitchen and gives you lots of simple and quick banana bread recipes like this healthy banana bread recipe on his website.