Why Did My Banana Bread Fall in the Middle?

Becoming a good baker is never easy. To get delicious pastries, you have to learn and practice to overcome mistakes.

Therefore, it is essential to thoroughly understand the causes of the failures that bakers often encounter. If you’re asking yourself why did my banana bread fall or why did my banana bread collapse, check this article out!

Why Did My Banana Bread Fall?

1. You used too much or too little banana.

Naturally, banana pieces should be the star of the dish, and you should put lots of filling inside. However, too much is not good, no matter if it is fresh or frozen bananas.

By stuffing too many add-ins into the loaf of banana, you will destroy its texture and easily cause the pastry to break and fall when exposed to high heat. Your final dish will end up unattractive and not tasty at all.

How about too little banana? In this case, you won’t be able to taste its flavor. And like we mentioned above, bananas should be the highlight of this treat.

The fruit is what makes the bread moist, so it is necessary to have a decent amount of filling. Furthermore, keep in mind not to use a green banana if you want perfect banana bread.

2. Bad Leavening Agent

One common reason is that the leavening agent, such as baking powder or baking soda, was not activated properly. Leavening agents are added to baked goods such as banana bread to create air bubbles that expand as the dough or batter cooks, which helps the baked goods rise and become light and fluffy. If the leavening agent is not activated properly, the air bubbles may not form, and the bread can collapse as they cool.

3. You used an unripe banana

If you have ever tried to eat the banana peel or somehow think it is good for your health, then you are completely wrong.

Banana peel has sap, which will make your pastry clotted and fall apart after baking. Remember to always remove the peels before adding them to the dough if you want delicious homemade banana bread.

4. You overmixed the batter

Over mixing the dough will ruin the texture so that when baking, it will not be able to rise as beautiful as desired. It would be best that you don’t mix it messily but should follow the banana bread recipe’s procedure.

Besides, using baking soda and sour buttermilk would help a lot by mixing as little as possible. Do not overmix until the flour and baking powder is smooth and runny like a liquid because later, the top layer will become hard.

Furthermore, the oven’s high heat will cause the empty air bubbles inside to expand and crack the top layer. It would help if you use flour blend machine at medium speed.

The cake batter should be wrapped with plastic wrap in a medium bowl and then rest in the fridge.

If you’re not a baking expert, determining banana bread batter consistency can be difficult.

However, keep in mind that a combination of baking powder, sour cream, flour, and white sugar will turn an ivory white color if you follow the recipes correctly.

You should regularly scrape the contents of the bowl to ensure that sugar and melted butter are well mixed with baking soda.

5. You measured the wrong amount of flour

Baking is a science that requires precision in every detail. Just by changing a small ingredient or making a mistake with the quantity stated in the recipe, the end product can change completely in color and flavor.

Therefore, bakers must always follow the correct dry ingredients and quantity in the moist banana bread recipe.

If you use too much dough, your bread will over-swell, and the amount of the powder will drown out the flavor of the inside. Your final product will not be up to the standard.

6. It was baked at the wrong temperature

Another reason why baked goods may collapse in the middle is that the oven temperature was too high or too low. The baking temperature depends on the type and the size of the cakes. However, typically bread must be left in the oven at medium heat of 160-180 degrees C for between 20 to 30 minutes to cook evenly from the inside.

Perfect baking time will give your bread a golden brown color on the outside and still keep the moisture inside.

If the oven temperature is too high, the outside of the baked goods can cook too quickly, causing the inside to collapse. On the other hand, if the oven temperature is too low, the baked goods may not cook fully, which can also cause them to collapse.

7. You Took the bread Out too soon

Amateurs will feel impatient and anxious to see the results and often will take the bread out of the loaf pans before time.

It will still hatch normally with golden outside but will be flat or shrink after taking it out of the oven. Meanwhile, the core might be a bit wet and smells undercooked eggs.

This is because the dough doesn’t have enough time to cook, so you won’t be able to eat it. If you put the bread back in the oven, there is a high chance that it will have to burn on the outside for the inside to be done properly.

So it would be best to have enough time for your bread to cook.

How To Fix Banana Bread That Fall?

Check the ingredients properly

To get a delicious homemade banana bread, we need to calculate the amount of milk, flour, or the volume of white and brown sugar, butter, chocolate chips and even more wet ingredients required to achieve the most delicious taste.

The best way to quantitatively measure flour, baking powder or any other dry ingredients is to use a dedicated measuring tool and scale and follow the correct task.

Note that the amount of dough should reach the edge of the measuring cup, and you need to wipe off the excess with a flat knife or spoon. If using a scale, make sure it is accurate to the second decimal.

Once you become a baking expert, the measurement can be done in moderation. If you want to add some strange flavors like cinnamon, pumpkin, or chocolate, you need to calculate carefully so that the proportions of the banana cake recipe are correct.

For example, a teaspoon vanilla extract should be enough for a perfect banana bread or couple tablespoons of pumpkin spice for a pumpkin banana bread. However, this will lead to a deviation in the formula and change the overall flavor.

Make sure the bread is cooked properly

So, how to tell if banana bread is done?

It would be best if you did a temperature check every few minutes to make sure the cake is cooked. When the cake is still in the oven, use a special thermometer to check.

You have to turn the thermometer on first and then insert it in the middle of the mixing. Banana bread’s internal temperature should reach 99 degrees C (about 210 degrees F) when it is cooked.

You can also do this using a small stick and put it in the center of the banana mixture. If the dough doesn’t stick to it anymore, you can be sure that the cake is cooked perfectly and should take it out of the oven to rest.

Frequently Asked Questions About Banana Bread

Why did my banana bread fall in the middle?

The main reason is that the temperature is insufficient; in other words, the ambient temperature is too cool or cold.

Or you have not left enough time for the dough to reach its full bloom. Undercooked banana bread will sink in the middle. Another reason is that too much banana filling ruins the texture of the cake.

Why did my banana bread not rise?

This may be because you put the yeast in the water too hot, and the yeast dies or limits the activity of yeast very much.

Another reason is the excess flour percentage compared to other ingredients, causing an imbalance. In this case, you can refreeze the bread in an airtight container to improve the density of the component.

Conclusion

Baking is a complicated process that takes a lot of time to master. Sometimes, just a single mistake can ruin your product, and you need to learn from those mistakes to know how to cook banana bread evenly following recipes.

We hope that after this article, you will have the etiquette answer to the question, “why did my banana bread fall?.” Thank you for reading!