Ooh finally it worked

I don't know if I have owned up to this yet... I like to make banana bread. I feel like I am using something that would have gone to waste, plus the house smells AWESOME when you bake it. However... My banana bread has often been compared to a brick, well not always a brick sometimes a doorstop, cinder block, box of hammers. Let’s just say it is usually... well I'll use the word "hearty" I have been trying for a lighter one and found the answer in a book.


OK, confession time and one of those moments that I take out the tatters of my "man card" and just leave it behind before I move onto the next sentence. I have read every one of Diane Mott Davidson's books. Yes I read culinary mysteries when I have the time. I am always waiting to find out what happens next with "Goldilocks Catering" and the mystery solving caterer.

Anyway in one of the novels, our hero breaks a murder case when she discovers a cake recipe that calls for baking soda but no acid… Of course any dunderhead would be able to take that information and find a murderer right? But it did make me take a look at my old recipe for banana bread recipe… Bananas, sugar, flour, butter, milk… Hmmm, nothing for the soda to react with. Then I remembered the nerdy kid next to me at the 7th grade science fair with his baking soda volcano. "Just pour some vinegar on top of the baking soda that I have in there and mom has a heck of a mess to clean up."

Say this just might work… So I tried the basic recipe that I had laying around and added two TBS of Balsamic Vinegar. That did it and I think that we can all agree that you can’t go wrong with a little Balsamic here is how the recipe ended up.

2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

3 old Bananas (well mashed)
6 TBS butter, melted then cooled
2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
2 TBS Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 Cup coarsly chopped Pecans

Preheat oven to 350

Put all dry ingredients into a bowl and wisk together then set aside. Mix the rest of the ingredients together then add to the flour mixture and blend, just until they are mixed. scrape into a bread pan and bake for about 45 minutes. When it is done (poke it with a toothpick or knife and it comes out clean) remove from pan and let cool for about an hour...

How did it fare? Overall the opinions were good. Lighter, but still that hearty texture that it should be.

Note to my blogger friends. I am not ignoring you!!!  I am having huge computer problems right now... the laptop hasn't booted up in about a month, I have tried everything from a system restore to reimaging the hard drive, nothing has worked. Recently my desktop has been acting as if it is posessed, (blue screens, thousands of nonsencican numbers filling the screen,  random reboots etc...) I am trying to get to visit all of you but the only computer I can get to work well on-line is Kris' work laptop.

I'm Back

Ok a bit of an unscheduled break there, sorry loyal readers I was incapacitated for a while.  It all started on Wednesday morning after I had called into work sick (I never take time off sick) Kris asked me how I felt.  My answer was, "Let's add sharp shooting pains in my side to the list of symptoms."  Yes folks it was appendicitis and since I don't do things half way it had already burst so I was really out of it for a while.  After five days in the hospital and several more at home I am feeling, not well, but better and bored to death.  

So what is a bored foodie to do while off work for another several days?  Well bake... for two reasons 1. baking yeast bread is something that I am able to do, you know mix stuff together, let it sit for an hour press it down let it sit for an hour, works well for me this week.  2. Baking bread has always been relaxing for me kind of like yoga only I don't wake up sore the next day.

My first baking venture was actually something that I started almost a month ago Sourdough,  from a starter.  I won't go into the rules of making a starter, I did find a website that was very simple and helpful.  The author makes a comment along the line of "does this all sound brain-dead simple, that's because it is people who thought the earth was flat did this for a thousand years."  

I found it to be as easy as he said, the morning that I made my first loaf of sourdough I put all of my starter (growing since June 5th) into a glass bowl covered it and let it sit on the counter for about 5 hours until it was all foamy and started to smell like old beer.  I know it sounds like a great way to start food but work with me here once that was all ready I made the bread dough:

2 Cups of sponge (fancy-pants word for proofed starter)

1 1/2 cup bread flour

1 1/2 cup wheat flour

2 TBS belted butter

4 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

Mixed those ingredients together and put them into a clean glass bowl for about 3 more hours until it proofed after it had about doubled in size I kneaded that down, formed it into a ball and put it on a baking pan to rise again for about 3 more hours.  Altogether is was a bit of a commitment I am happy that I did my first one on a day that I was home alone.

After this rise I put it into a cold oven then turned it on to 350 for about 45 minutes, until it made a hollow sound when I knocked on the crust.  Over all this was a good experiment the bread was good, next time I think I will trust my instincts and add a little more flour to stiffen it up.  The bread is light but like sourdough has a nice weight to it.  I am happy with this one

 

here it is with a little olive tapenade ready for lunch

Banana Bread

My son used to eat bananas like they were going out of style so they have been a staple on the shopping list for months, he would request bananas sometimes several times a day, recently he has stopped. The banana has been replaced by the cookie, and not just any cookie, only the ones made at the Dominick's Bakery will do and yes he can tell the difference. Of course I am always a little bit behind so even though he hasn't been asking for bananas I still purchased them. There they were several days latter sitting on my kitchen counter turning into a black mushy mess.

Since the weather has cooled a little around here I was able to cook indoors again, the obvious thing to do was make Banana Bread. I was up at about 6:00 this morning and didn't have to leave the house until 9:00 so I had plenty of time. Here are the ingredients:

4 Really Ripe Bananas (see below)

1 apple peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice

1/4 cup melted Butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cup Flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup almonds (toasted)

I put the bananas in a large mixing bowl and beat them with a wooden spoon then added the diced apple, butter, sugar and egg and mixed them together pretty well. I put the flour and soda into a sifter and sifted that into the mixture then added the walnuts and almonds and mixed. I pored this into a buttered bread pan and baked it in an oven that I had heated to 350. It took a little more than an hour until until it was done. I know there are more subtle ways to tell but I still poke it with a knife and when it comes out clean I know it is done.

Everybody in the house woke up to the warm kitchen filled with the smell of fresh bread baking! It was done by about 7:30 so we had time for a relaxed breakfast before starting the day.