Sourdough banana bread

Did someone say Bananas?

by Millciti · More by this author { 2009 August 22 }

Stone fruit season hit here with cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums all at once, and my bananas kept ending up fruit fly incubators.  I usually keep them around for Biking to keep the muscles happy.  Then for some strange reason, since you posted this recipe the guys haven't left a single banana around to ripen!!! But here is a recipe for Sourdough Chocolate malt waffles that appeared in my King Arthur Flour Catalog.   Humm... maybe thats where my bananas went!!?  Thanks for reminding me about this recipe.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chocolate-malt-waffles-recipe 

One hint instead of 1/2 cup of chocolate malt powder I used 3 tablespoons of malt and about a third of a cup of non-fat (non-instant) milk powder mixed together.  These waffles are great with just fresh banana slices and a little bit of whipped cream and some walnuts. They also make a pretty impressive dessert the way that they presented them on the site.  I froze the rest to make mini dessert waffle sundaes with.

Terri

could it be the cups?

by Millciti · More by this author { 2009 August 22 }

I found this a while back and it kind of solved the mystery as to why some internet (International) recipes seem to come out perfect, and some seem to be a mile off.  Its from a site called Q Chef.

"Being English, I have no idea how big an American cup is! Is it closer in volume to my teacup or my coffee cup, or am I way out?

  Now, now, don't blame yourself — some things can't be helped. None of us can be held accountable for the place of our birth.

Your teacup is 25 percent smaller than our measuring cup (or 3/4 of our cup); your small coffee cup is only 1/3 of our measuring cup. Your breakfast cup or simply "cup" is 20 percent larger than our measuring cup (or 1-1/4 of our cups). Our measuring cup is meant to hold 8 fluid ounces.

And while you might think we'd find common ground with the pint, your pint (two cups) is 20 percent larger than our pint (two cups) — 20 ounces versus 16 ounces.

Your teaspoon and measuring tablespoon, by the way, are 50 percent larger than our teaspoon and tablespoon. We're starting to feel inadequate. "

That is why I started after 45 years of using cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and oz's  to baking by weight -grams weights mostly.  Some good american standards are= a cup of water weighs around 240g and that most flours are around 125g.  Most dry tsp's are about 5g wet varies by the viscosity of the liquid. 

Gotta go before I fall asleep and mess this up!

Terri

 

I also found a study on unripe and overripe bananas...

by Millciti · More by this author { 2009 August 22 }

But the difference in moisture content was only about 5.7% moister when overripe.  If you take into account the starch changing to sugar this might make it a contributing factor.  They talk about other chemical changes here but don't discuss them all.  There is some discussion on ash content though.  Not sure exactly what these figures mean so maybe the professional food chemists in our group might give it a shot and explain their analysis.  The study was found here:

http://www.academicjournals.org/AJB/PDF/pdf2009/6Mar/Adeyemi%20and%20Oladiji.pdf

Terri

Let us know how it turns out - with pics of course.

I've since modifed the recipe above - amped up the flavour with a few little additions and tweaked the composition a little to make it more moist. Have been meaning to post accordingly. Soon...

Cheers
Ross

Well, that's a bit meaningless without taking the SIZE of the bananas into account. I don't know what's happened to my gram measures - they seem to have disappeared from the recipe!

I usually use 3 medium bananas now, but my medium might be your large, or small, depending on the variety of bananas available in your location. Anyway, will re-post with my gm weight measurements of all ingredients, plus my tweaks (ie: added milk for extra moisture plus fresh grated nutmeg, lemon zest, orange flower water and cinnamon, which I think lift the final result to a new level, adding complexity and depth to the flavour profile...also, I now prefer canola oil - or even better, butter - rather than light olive oil). And I've increased the amount of starter.

I'm not an icing fan, but regardless of that I think it might be a bit problematic icing this baby, since it always cracks open on top (at least, mine does). That would make icing a messy task - with an unsightly result, I suspect.

No, I have not made a bready bananabread, only this cakey one. Shiao-Ping did a nice-looking banana pain au levain. You might like to give that one a go. See recipe here.

...did you add my tweaks?

Cheers
Ross

Judges that age are mercilessly honest!

Cheers jeromeb!
R

I'll consult my recipe and notes and post the tweaks and gram weights today or tomorrow. Throwing my hat over the fence like that will keep me true to my word...!

Cheers
Ross

The flavour profile has changed considerably since I first posted the recipe, as have my quantities. Follow them, and there will be no issue with moisture content. This loaf is closer to cake than bread, but it should not be crumbly or dry at all.

Do try the recipe as it now is, Terri. I think you'll be surprised at just how good this is. Nice pics of your bakes!

Some might do a double take at the inclusion of orange flower water. I'd been making a lot of Moroccan dishes, and it suddenly occured to me that orange flower water was compatible with the flavour profile of the banana bread, and might add a little something special. We love the perfumed undertones it lends...but be sparing if you decide to give it a try. A little bit goes a long way. Try only a few drops the first time. The flavour should be barely discernible, just adding a hint of exotic intrigue.

Final note: be sure to use OVER-RIPE bananas. I find this is important both for the flavour and moisture content of the bread. The bananas need to be too soft to peel and eat. It's not until they get beyond ripe that the sugars develop enough to bring out their best in this bread. I've used them at the point at which the skins are black. I guess you'd draw the line at them fermenting, but anything short of that will be perfect for this recipe.

Cheers!
Ross

Or not thinking. Of course, I meant canola oil. Will correct.

Didn't imagine changing my original recipe would be an issue, but I see what you mean. Hmm, if you could copy and send me the original would be great, Terri. I'll PM you with my email addess.

Cheers
Ross

I tried this, this morning with a few changes.   I used brown sugar instead of white, and I no walnuts, so I used dates instead.  

Very yummy bread! 

I'm going to try this again, but with apples, dates cardamom, and cinnamon, lemon peel and juice

I did try the banana bread Ross, and found it to be a little bit dry, not to much, but found that if I kept it in a plastic bag, it got moist; I live in Manitoba Canada, and the cold sucks the moisture out of our skin and hair, so no wonder it was dry; lol just kidding.  I only used 2 bananas as the recipe called for 2-4, and 2 was all I had at the time .  I'm going to try it again but use more bananas. The bananas here are like medium  I think the shredded apples [using 4] will provide the right amount of moisture it may need., we’ll see what happens.

I also didn't use loaf pans, I made it in a round cake pan instead, and it was beautiful.

by the way, sourdough pancakes is a good addiction. Lol

Hope

Made this one Friday night.  I used Pecans instead of walnuts as that is what we had in the house at the time.  Very simple to make and I guess every one loved it cause there is none left!  :) 

What a great smell as it was baking.  I'm going to try some apple compote that we made a year ago instead of bananas next weekend.

 Thanks for the great formula!  :)

James

I made the above recipe this morning and was very pleased with the rise and look of this banana bread.  I cut it this afternoon and it was a little on the dry side.  I'm hoping letting it sit overnight wrapped up will increase the moisture.  I should have added the third banana but wanted to make it like the recipe once before messing with it.  It has a really great taste and I think tweaking it a little is all it needs. 

Thanks for posting the recipe.

Debra