Banana Bread

There they were, bananas with specklings of brown crying to be used before a trip to the garbage was in order. These bananas were not to meet the same fate as their predecessors who ended their lives sadly in the garbage. Poor chiquitas. These four bananas would live to see another day, even if a reincarnated form: banana bread. I have been using the same recipe for banana bread for years and have made only minor changes to it. My children gobble it up and my husband eats it by the loaf. (Seriously he will take an entire loaf with him to work. Granted, I usually make smaller loaves, but he takes the loaf and eats it without slicing it. Trust me, the mental image is prettier than the actual live shot!)

Here is the recipe:

Banana Bread

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter (softened)

2 eggs

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2-3)

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional, but a must in this house)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one regular loaf pan or 3-4 small loaf pans. In bowl cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until well-mixed. Add bananas, milk, and vanilla and blend well. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt with a whisk to ensure even distribution and to add air to the mixture. This will make your bread lighter. Add this to the wet mixture and stir together until just mixed together. Do not overmix. Add chocolate chips (if you want to enjoy the extra yumminess) and stir until evenly spread throughout the batter. If you have children like mine they will count their chocolate chips to make sure they have more than their siblings. Ugh! Pour the batter into the pan or pans. If you choose to use the smaller pans, bake for 25-30 minutes. For the large pan, bake for 55-60 minutes. Allow to cool in pan if you can before devouring it!

My children wanted this for dessert tonight, but it came out of the oven too late. I promised them that they can have it for breakfast in the morning. What lucky ducks! Mommy, however, will be sampling some tonight!

Enjoy!

Sunday Bread

Sundays are the best day to bake bread. I love taking a break from the normal bustle of life and slowing down for just one day. I should specify at this point that it is AFTER church that life slows down for a few hours. The kids have quiet time or a nap and the house is quiet for an hour or two. Being a multiple step process with waiting involved between steps, making bread is a process that allows me to spend time with my family. Today I am making simple wheat bread which is wonderful to eat fresh out of the oven with my dad's homemade jam. Yum!

Fresh Ingredients

I have found (don't ask me why because it will involve a long diatribe) that using FRESH ingredients really makes whatever kind of bread you are making really wonderful. Check the dates on your flour. If you are unaccustomed to baking and are unsure of the "freshness" of your flour, purchase fresh flour. Usually the stuff from the store will be just fine.

I am constantly baking so I know that the absolute oldest that my flour will be is around three months. Anything longer than a year and I say pitch it. Now, there is a big fat "unless" here. If you have purchased white flour and canned it into #10 cans it should last for about 5 years. Be sure to date your cans and store the freshest flour behind the flour to use.

Another note about fresh ingredients. Butter will be used in several recipes. Be sure that your butter if stored in the fridge or freezer does not smell or taste like the surrounding food. If it does, that smell will translate to taste and will not be pretty.

Fresh yeast is essential. It will store well in the fridge or the freezer, but use it! Leaving it there for years and not using may harm its productiveness. There is a story associated with this and I have related it at bread classes. I will tell it another time!

Using fresh ingredients is one key to successful baking. Bread can be finicky and always err on the side of caution. When you take chances you may end up with a product that does not accurately represent your actual skills and I hate to think that anything I have made is not my best!