Banana bread is divine. Nothing is better than warm banana bread fresh from the oven with butter and a sprinkle of sea salt (all breads are good this way, even sweet ones.) It is a scent that reminds me of my childhood, when we would make banana bread and pumpkin bread in the winter. I cherish those days of warm ovens and licking batter off the spatula—those simple things are what I will miss most when I leave home. My mother, my grandmother, and surely my grandmother’s mother all have their signature banana bread recipe, and so I suppose this will be mine.

But banana bread, like most good things, is fleeting. You bake it and it is wonderful for a day, but wait two more and it is spoiled. Spoiled! I have been spoiled by my hardy loaves of sourdough—to have a loaf that doesn’t last a week takes some getting used to. Why does something you worked so hard on only last a moment? Appalachian summers are fleeting as well, blossoming with birds and crickets and so many fresh fruits and vegetables and sun and late nights and fireflies…and then it withers into a bleak and lifeless winter, where farmers bring only potatoes to the market and the winds claw at the trees day and night. Love is fleeting—it is something that you must pour your whole self into, sometimes only for it all to fall apart. Home is fleeting—building a life in a place that you will leave one day.

If humans were practical, they would know not to invest in something that will only last a moment. But perhaps that is the joy of it—there will always be new, there will always be ups and downs, and there will always be hope. Like summer and winter or blooming flowers or hibernating bears, we give all that we have, and then somehow there is more for the next dream. The cycle of dreaming and hoping and giving everything—it is beautiful, like banana bread.

Banana bread. This one is warm with the soft spice of anise seeds, the gentle sweetness of honey, and a slight tang from the sourdough. The perfect loaf for a mug of tea and a rainy, dreary winter’s day. Be patient. Soon hope will come again, and it will be bright, beautiful summer once more.

Enjoy

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 2 and 1/2 large overripe bananas, mashed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup unfed sourdough starter, stirred
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or white whole wheat)
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons anise seeds
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line an 5×8 inch loaf pan with parchment
2. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and honey. Add egg, bananas, and vanilla and mix on low until just combined
3. Add sourdough starter and whisk until fully combined (might take a minute or two)
4. Add flours, baking powder, baking soda, anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk or stir with wooden spoon until just combined
5. Fold in walnuts and transfer to prepared pan. Bake 50-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry with a few sticky crumbs (it will continue to bake in the pan.)
6. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing