banana bread Archives

There is a poem by Robert Frost that we were introduced to as Standard VII students by the Goa Board of Education and I could be getting the class or age I was at completely wrong. Mending Walls, as I recall, was the title. The customary Q and A “discuss this poem” that came at the end was what we were conditioned to believe as the real learning. As long as we got the answers right, agreed on them and spewed the same thing at exam time there was no need to know more…to crave more ideas and writers and worlds to get lost in. That was what hobbies were for. You could do that in your free time at home, silly! As much as I – and certainly 99% of my class – was a product of this environment, I was still taught to dream; to believe….

Before I begin, I want you to know what I was contemplating. It’s something about wanting to get off Posterous and get Typepad instead. I don’t know what the benefits are but Posterous take FOREVER to publish my posts and sometimes doesn’t do it at all. I’m not one to sit around because I got me some baking to do so I just sulked and didn’t blog for more than a month. What’s wrong with me? I did take a bus to Arizona for 10 days (including travel…by a BUS), but I wouldn’t consider that a “psychological problem”. It’s just this strange side of me.

It’s a very rainy day in Washington today. “Rain? Washington?! WHAT. What?”

So I decided to make banana bread. I always need fruit in my life. Fruit in the form of cake is an even better excuse. As usual I had to battle my demons (which I found out from this post) but my other demons include not wasting food in the form of three uneaten bananas so I channeled my inner Smitten Kitchen and said, “Eh, what the heck?”

(I didn’t use your recipe though, Deb. I’m sorry)

This is the recipe I used. I tweaked it because I’m a firm believer in doing as I please.

“Eggs one at a time you say? Separating them at birth is not my style.”

“Lightly beaten? No ma’am.”

And other fables.

Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas
Pumpkin spice (or a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, allspice powders)
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup of cane sugar (or even less if you prefer. The recipe called for 1 cup)
2 large eggs
Chopped walnuts for added crunch
A 9in x 5in x 3in bread loaf pan

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C).

In a bowl, mash the bananas and add the pumpkin spice and tablespoon of milk. Set aside and batter up for step 2.

Cream together the butter and sugar in another bowl of choice and then add the eggs to the mixture. Stir till eggs are combined.

In a totally different bowl, mix together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. This step is important as your baking powder/soda need to travel all across the bread and not just sit on the top and act like they’re on vacation.

Now you’re looking at three bowls and wondering: “Where is the banana bread?”

Step 4 is the wedding. The banana mixture goes into the butter/sugar/eggs mixture and stirred up well. The flour is then added little by little until it all disappears into a big bown of gooey, banana-y goodness.

Pour it in the bread loaf pan and add the walnuts on the top. You can also stir the walnuts in prior to pouring the mixture into the mould.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Make sure the loaf passes the knife test* before declaring it done.

*Stick a butter knife into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s ready. If not, bake fore 10 minutes more and re-check

Brown butter banana bread with macadamia nut streusel

That’s what’s up.