It’s truly the easiest and, in my opinion, the best banana bread recipe we’ve made. Or maybe it’s the fact that it calls for melted–rather than softened–butter. I find that the whole softened butter thing requires more thought–and can arguably kill the spontaneity–of the baking-together experience.

I’m not a baker, so I certainly never imagined that I would bake my own bread. Why should I when other professionals do it way better?! But after a few dinners at friends’ homes, where the bread was warm from the oven, and amazing, and they all looked at me in total disbelief (an inner ...