I’ve been told the three most stressful things in life are death, divorce and buying a house.

I’ve sadly experienced death, luckily never divorce and for the first time ever I am finding out what it’s like to buy and build a home. I’m basically at the mercy of arrogant estate agents who haven’t got the time of day in a seller’s market, in a city where buying a house is like some kind of competitive sport. Like a 200m sprint for a period conversion close to a tube station. And what’s with all the phone calls? Have any of these property negotiators heard of email? SIGH.

It is a stress that prior to a few weeks ago I never knew, which is why I’m now feeling very stupid having scoffed when my dad warned me about the absolute ball ache that buying a house is. Why can’t buying a house just be easy, a good old fashioned spit and shake on the sale? WHY?

Anyway, thanks to the aforementioned stress I’ve been under, I’ve been keeping it simple in the kitchen recently. Baking is therapeutic, and banana bread is the epitome of simple. Plus it gives me a great excuse to ignore calls from estate agents.

Enjoy!

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Brown Butter Banana Bread

Makes one 9x5" loaf

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter

240g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

60ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract

350g ripe banana, roughly mashed with a fork

175g dark brown soft sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°c (160°c FAN) and prepare a loaf tin with parchment paper
2. First brown the butter. On a medium heat melt the butter, whirling the pan occasionally. It’ll crackle and pop for a while, then it will stop. Give it a few swirls then pour it into a bowl to stop it from burning and to allow it to cool slightly.
3. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder in one bowl, then in another whisk together the eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.
4. Add the sugar and whisk well, then add the banana and finally the brown butter. Next add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk roughly.
5. Pour into your loaf tin and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cut into mega thick slices and serve with butter. Lots and lots of butter.