Yeasted Banana Bread (Vegan)

I know what you are all thinking. Not again. Not another banana bread recipe. What do I do? I just can't help baking with bananas. One reason is more than a dozen bananas in my freezer, other is oh, well it's just me. I promise you one thing though. Even if I don't finish those bananas, I will not post another banana bread recipe for few months now. I really promise you that one (with fingers crossed at my back).

Today is 'National Banana Bread' day. How could I resist baking another banana bread? Since I already have so many 'banana bread' recipes on this blog, I wanted to do something differently, I made it with yeast. There are couple of advantages of that. Less sugar and less fat. Plus there are different ways of using it. Make a sandwich with nutella or use it for toasting. These make good bread for french toast and how about some pudding with this bread? See? Don't you like it that I have this obsession with baking that I come up with these ideas?

One year back - White chocolate cream cheese truffles
Two years back - Spicy Batter Bread
Ingredients:
All purpose flour or Bread flour - 3 - 3 1/2 cup (Start with 3 cups)
Warm water - 1/4 cup
Oil - 3 TBSP
Banana puree - 1 cup (From 2 large bananas)
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Instant yeast - 2 tsp (Or use 1 package active dry yeast)
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup or more if you prefer a sweeter bread
Add ons - 1/2 cup like dried sweetened cranberries or raisins or nuts, chocolate chips
(I used sweetened dried cranberries) - Optional

Method:
Breadmachine method to make the dough:
I used a breadmachine and made the dough on dough cycle. Place the ingredients in the pan in the order: water,salt, sugar, oil, mashed banana, 3 cups of flour, yeast. Turn it on. Check for the dough consistency at the end of the first kneading cycle and add the extra  flour if required. When the machine beeps, add the dried cranberries or raisins if using. Let the dough cycle complete.

Manual method to make the dough:
Add yeast to warm water in a bowl and let it froth. When ready, add salt, sugar, mashed banana, oil and stir. Slowly start adding the flour to make a smooth dough. Knead very well for 10 - 15 minutes. You can do this in a stand mixer too. When the dough is smooth, add the cranberries and work it in so that it distributes evenly.

Take the kneaded dough and place in a well oiled bowl. Cover and let it rest for an hour or till double in volume. If using breadmachine, you can wait for the dough cycle to complete and then remove and shape the loaf. When double, punch down the dough to deflate and shape into a loaf and place in 9 X 5 loaf pan sprayed with vegetable oil spray. Cover loosely with an oiled aluminum foil and let it rise for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 F when the dough has risen till the rim of the pan. Brush the top of the loaf with oil and milk mixture if desired to get a nice color. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the pan and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F and bake for an additional 20 - 25 minutes or till the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped and the top is golden.

Notes:
The range in flour is given since different bananas have different moisture content based on their ripeness. I had to use 3 1/4 cups but when I had made the same bread some time back, it needed 3 1/2 cups of flour. Just a heads up.

Dough Consistency:
What you are looking for is not sticky, not tacky but smooth dough at the end of kneading. If you touch the dough ball with dry fingers, nothing should stick to it.