Preheat and Prepare: First, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease a 900g (2lb) loaf tin and line it with baking parchment, leaving a little overhang on the long sides to help you lift the bread out later.

Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and caster sugar together with an electric mixer for 3-4 minutes until the mixture is pale, light, and fluffy.

Add Wet Ingredients: Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. If the mixture looks like it might be curdling, just add a tablespoon of your flour. Stir in the vanilla extract and the mashed bananas.

Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the 250g of plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, and salt. This ensures the leavening agents are evenly distributed.

Prepare the Strawberries: In a small bowl, gently toss your chopped strawberries with the extra 1 tablespoon of flour. This light coating helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the tin during baking.

Fold Everything Together: Add the dry ingredients to the wet banana mixture. What works best for me is using a large spatula to gently fold everything together until just combined. Be careful not to overmix; a few streaks of flour are perfectly fine.

Add Strawberries: Gently fold the flour-coated strawberries into the batter.

Bake the Loaf: Pour the batter into your prepared loaf tin and smooth the top. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 60-70 minutes. To check for doneness, insert a skewer into the centre of the loaf – it should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached, but no wet batter.

Cool Completely: Let the banana bread cool in the tin for 10 minutes before using the parchment paper overhangs to lift it onto a wire rack. Allow it to cool completely before slicing. This is a crucial step for a clean cut!