Yeah, my grandmother would mash the PB and banana together into a delicious, homogenous mush and then spread that one the bread. Thanks to the magic of imprinting, I believe this is the Correct way to make a PBB, and if you disagree, I'll cut you.
Despite its obvious optimality, the Homogenous Mush approach creates extra dishes. So, as a lazy undergrad, I used the circles method for a long time. Sometime in grad school I had the long-cut epiphany, and tend to do that most of the time now.
(The other downside of the circular method is that they're more likely to try to jump out of the sandwich, since they have less contact area.)
Oh, and one other solution, which is great for long bike rides: Switch out the bread for a flour tortilla, and throw some honey in the mix as well. Fits in an undersaddle bag and beats the hell out of a clif bar.
Speaking of Grandmothers-- my Grandmother didn't bother with the peanut butter. Instead we had banana and mayonnaise sandwiches. I remember loving them as a kid, but I haven't had the guts to try them again as an adult.
I think the urban legend version of this is "just wear gloves"[1].
I do not understand the whole bread and bananas thing. Do as the wife says and make a slice down the middle. add peanut butter and put the two halves back together, and slice in segments. No bread is best.
Would make a better sandwich too as there would be fewer gaps. Could also stack more readily using the entire banana if one wishes.
Honestly, I never considered slicing that way before so besides an interesting read I also learned a new technique for making these kinds of sandwiches!
