I used to have a bit of an aversion to the texture of really ripe bananas. But once I started making banana bread, I realized that "too ripe for me" is just another way to say "not quite ripe enough" for banana bread. I now get a perverse thrill out of watching the banana get grosser and grosser on the counter, knowing the bread is getting more delicious with every bit of yellow skin that turns brown.
Saturday morning, we had a couple of very ripe bananas left on the counter — so ripe that a puddle of banana juice spilled out as I peeled them (me: "eww/yum!"). But I faced a familiar problem. I had two huge bananas, surely enough for a small loaf, but which recipe is that? Do I google "two large bananas banana bread" and hope someone's formulated a recipe for this exact situation? Adapt the New York Times "Easy Banana Bread," which calls for "four medium bananas"?
Banana bread is a ratio before it is a recipe. Fix the number of bananas and the rest follows — which is the whole idea behind the Banana Bread! calculator I made. I told it two large, and it told me everything else.
My two bananas, mashed and mixed and poured into a small loaf pan and baked at 350 for a bit shy of an hour, turned into a simple slice of banana bread alongside my coffee.