Quest for the Best Banana Bread Ever

I love banana bread, I can't say it enough.  I mean I really, really love banana bread.  The wonderful aroma that hits your nose when you cut a slice off the loaf, the gooey moistness of the bread mixed with the sweet banana flavor as it hits your tongue.  I'm in heaven now just thinking about it until my bubble bursts when I drop back into reality and realize that I won't be able to have some because I can't make a good loaf of banana bread.  I've tried.  Many times, it just never comes out well.  It's either too dry or more likely has absolutely no flavor to it.

Then I decided.  I must search out the best recipe ever and take the time to perfect the execution of said recipe just like I did for my great grandma's chocolate chip cookies.  And that my friends took years of late nights when I was a teenager with insomnia.  Thank you dad for those late night trips to the store for supplies.

My quest has begun.  First step is to find the treasure map, AKA the best banana bread recipe known to man.  Enter my favorite site, Pinterest.  And voila, instantaneously I have a million recipes at my fingertips.  Say hello to my little friend:  Julia's Banana Bread.  Touted as the banana bread that people with drive 20 miles on a one-way road for, replete with dream-induced hallucinations.  Yeah no brainer this was the first recipe I decided to try.

Ingredients

Nonstick vegetable oil spray 
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt 
3 large eggs 
1 1/2 cups sugar 
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large) 
3/4 cup vegetable oil

I had some overripe bananas left over from making a banana cream pie for my sister so I mashed those up in a bowl and mixed them with the eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil. 

Then in a separate bowl I mixed together the dry ingredients and added it to the mix.  After mixing out all the lumps I poured the mixture into a muffin tin (couldn't find my loaf tins).  The recipe said to cook for 60-70 minutes, but I only cooked mine for about 30 minutes because they were muffins instead of a big loaf.  

Piping hot right out of the oven, the smell was amazing and of course I couldn't help but shove some in my mouth right away.  Yeah don't recommend it, I burnt my tongue.  That myth about sugar taking away the burnt tongue doesn't really work, or rather not very well.  Once they cooled down I tried them again.  Definitely more flavor than my other attempts, but it's still missing something and they weren't quite as moist as I would have liked.  If you have any ideas as to how I can improve the recipe or execution of the recipe please let me know.

Update:  Okay so after making the bread I put it into a Ziploc baggie to keep it fresh.  Turns out this was all it needed.  I woke up the next morning and had a loaf and it was magically super moist with lots more flavor.  I still think it needs more banana flavor and a little something else though.  I let you know next time I try to make it.

Ah the wonderful smell of banana bread.  My house will never be the same again.

Next step try to find my loaf tin so that it will be more moist or cook for less time.  Also compare recipes to figure out what is missing.  Maybe I will compare it to Betty Crocker's recipe or that Martha Stewart one.  I'll let you know what I deduce in later attempts with an update.  Wish me luck.