Preheat and Prepare: First, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with a little butter and line it with baking parchment, leaving some overhang on the long sides to act as handles later.

Brown the Butter: Place the 125g of unsalted butter in a small, light-coloured saucepan over a medium heat. Let it melt completely. It will begin to foam and sizzle. Continue to cook, swirling the pan occasionally, for about 5-8 minutes. You'll see little brown specks forming at the bottom and smell a wonderful, nutty aroma. For a visual guide on this technique, Serious Eats has a great tutorial. Once it's a lovely amber colour, immediately pour it into a large mixing bowl to stop the cooking process, making sure to scrape in all the brown bits. Set aside to cool slightly.

Combine Dry Ingredients: While the butter cools, in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and ground cinnamon until well combined.

Mash the Bananas: In another bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until they are mostly smooth but still have a few small lumps for texture.

Mix the Wet Ingredients: Add the light brown sugar to the cooled brown butter and whisk until combined. Add the room temperature eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract and the mashed bananas.

Combine Wet and Dry: Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold everything together until just combined. Be careful not to overmix; a few streaks of flour are perfectly fine. I find that this light touch is key to a tender crumb.

Bake the Bread: Scrape the batter into your prepared loaf tin and smooth the top. Bake for 60-70 minutes. To check if it's done, insert a skewer into the centre of the loaf – it should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.

Cool Completely: Let the banana bread cool in the tin for about 15 minutes before using the parchment paper handles to lift it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Patience is difficult here, but allowing it to cool ensures the loaf sets properly and is easy to slice.