Friday, March 6, 2009

banana bread

banana bread cooling

Rachael loves banana bread and used to nag me all the time to make it for her. She never quite believed that it was mainly a way to use up overripe bananas and that we had to wait for some of them to appear before we made it. I'm not much of a banana-eater, so only buy them as I expect to use them and rarely let them get more than faintly freckled. I somehow ended up with three brown bananas this week, and immediately thought of my little girl.

This eggless banana bread turned out very well, especially its crust. After helping me eat three-quarters of the loaf at a sitting, Rachael said I should make it again but in cookie form, so as to maximize the crust/crumb ration.

banana bread slice

Banana Bread

5 oz pecans and/or walnuts
3 small or 2 big ripe bananas, about 12 oz
1C milk (I used oat milk)
1t vinegar
2T flax meal
7oz sugar
1/3C oil
1T orange zest
7oz whole wheat pastry flour
1t mixed spice; or 1/2t cinnamon, 1/4t nutmeg, and a pinch each of cloves and black pepper
1t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Heat your oven to 350°F and toast the nuts for 10 minutes. Turn the heat up to 375°F.

Mash the bananas well, then add the milk, vinegar, and flax meal. Mix well, then add the oil, sugar, and orange zest.

Whisk together the flour, spices, baking powder and soda, and salt, then stir in the banana mixture. Chop the nuts and stir them in, then scrape the batter into a greased 8x4.5 inch pan and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350°F and cook for another 30-40 minutes, till a cakes tester comes out clean and it has an internal temperature of at least 200°F.

1 comment:

joannamauselina said...

That Rachael, what a girl! Should I make her some? I need a new temperature tester.