Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Banana Bread

If you have kids, you know how weird they can be. My younger one has her own definition for a fruit. It has to be one of these: pear, apple, banana, clementine (note here: orange is not a clementine for her) and sometimes grapes. My older one on the other hand likes watermelon, cantaloupe, pear, apple and clementine. So, I end up buying common fruits and the not common fruits too.
I prefer to have banana on hand since if, for some reason my younger one doesn't eat her meal, I can giver her a banana which will buy me some time to fix her something else.
Probably because of the heat, bananas ripened too fast and my kid won't touch it if it is not firm. So, here I go again to use up the bananas.
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat flour - 1 cup
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup (May use brown sugar - see notes)
Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 2
Vegetable Oil - 1/3 cup (If you like butter, use melted butter instead)
Banana - mashed and measured 2 cups (about 4 large ripe ones)
Vanilla - 2 tsp

Method:
In a bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, sugar. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 F (325 F if using darker or glass pan). Spray a 9 X 5 loaf pan with vegetable oil spray. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat the two eggs lightly. Add oil, mashed bananas, vanilla. Whisk again. Now, slowly add the dry ingredients to wet and stir until just moist and no streaks of flour is seen. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 55 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. After 45 minutes, take out the pan from the oven, loosely tent with aluminum foil and then continue to bake to prevent over browning.

Notes:
It is very easy to make this eggless and even vegan. All you have to do is use 2 TBSP of flax meal with 6 TBSP of warm water. Whisk together and use it in the place of eggs. I used eggs so that I do not polish of the whole loaf of bread.
You could add about a cup of toasted walnuts or 1 cup of chocolate chips. This is not a very sweet bread I was told, so if you like your bread to be sweet like a cake, use about 1 1/4 cup of sugar and not just 1 cup. You could use part brown sugar and part white sugar.
Omit vanilla, use about 1 tsp of cardamom powder, fold in a cup of shredded coconut for an Indian taste.


Happy Baking!!

22 comments:

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  2. thats an awesome banana bread. love these but with less sugar and with a thick layer of butter. yummy.

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  3. Lovely bread n nice pictures..We too have posted it a few months back. Yum Yum!!

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  4. Yummy N Tasty bread (wink wink..hug hug)

    Hope the little one enjoyed the bread..Im thinking of nutella slathered on a slice of bread since morning and this is not helping u know..

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  5. We love banana bread too. aNowadays I send it to school as well. Its always a hit with my kids.

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  6. love your banana bread, a good way to use up ripen banana..

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  7. I hear you Champa, I am not a fruit fan and so are both my kids so far, I hate it as I want them to be like their dad, who loves fruits to death, I mean he can just have fruits for lunch/dinner and all his meals and happily eat it and not because he has no other way.

    Anyways, to bread, it is beautiful :)

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  8. Wow that looks awesome... i love bana bread....

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  9. Looks perfect!and u made it with wholewheat!!Amazing :)

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  10. Wow healthy one ... already bookmarked:)

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  11. Lovely Bread!!! I have tried it as a cake, But not so successful!!! It doesnt come out fluffy!!! May be will try this version now!!!

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  12. i tried this recipe yestreday came out great but the crust is little bit crisper and brown should we put a foil after some time and which rack should we use to bake

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  13. Mamatha,
    Thanks for the feedback. I do recommend covering with a foil after 45 minutes of baking and unless you are using a convection oven, one should always bake cake and quick bread in the center rack. Hope this helps.

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  14. thanks for the reply. next i will try your bread and pav buns recipe.

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  15. Champa..... 2 loaves of this bread are currently baking in my oven! Looking good, can't wait to taste it... Couldn't wait to tell u either ;) Thanks!!

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  16. Do let me know how it turns out.

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  17. The previous comment was mine, sent from my phone. Don't know why it said anon :(. Anyways, the bread turned out great and one loaf is already polished. Everyone inc my niece Hima loved it! Thanks again, Champa.
    -Sumana.

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  18. Sumana,
    Thanks for the feedback. I am glad everyone including your niece liked it.

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  19. I tried this and added chopped walnuts....it was super yummy!!Thanks a ton :)

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  20. Chandana,
    Thanks for the feedback.

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  21. Champa,
    The banana bread came out excellent. Good thing about the recipe is it includes Whole Wheat which I prefer.
    Thank you for the recipe!

    Sumathi Vatsamanu

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