Banilla Banana Bread

At school we always seem to receive more bananas for snack than the children (and I) can consume.   I am totally okay with this and do NOT plan on informing the kitchen.  I just carry the overripe bananas from Madison Avenue to York (very carefully), stick them in the freezer, and daydream about banana treats like the muffins I made before and this Mark Bittman inspired banana bread.

Banilla Banana Bread with inspiration from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

(Printable Recipe)

Prep time 15 minutes

Cook time 1 hour

1 cup pastry/cake flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar

8 tablespoons Stonyfield Banilla Yogurt (personal favorite flavor)

2 eggs
3 very/overripe bananas mashed with a fork until smooth
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
optional:
1/4+ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
1/2 cup shredded dried coconut** this is Mark Bittman's not-so-secret ingredient

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Mix the dry ingredients together.  Add wet ingredients (yogurt, eggs, bananas, vanilla) slowly, stirring.  Once you have a somewhat consistent mixture (it's okay if there are some chunks) gently fold in the pecans, coconut, or other dried fruit to your liking.
Pour the batter into your well greased loaf pan and bake for 50-70 minutes.  The classic toothpick test and nice golden browning will tell you when it's done.  Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing.

For the full fat version use butter instead of yogurt.

Due to some sort of oven malfunction I actually made this banana bread twice in a matter of 72 hours.  Some of the center of the first batch was undercooked.  Check out the area right in the center of the loaf:

By undercooked I mean to say that it was basically raw.  Which I find rather bizarre because I cooked the second loaf for approximately the same 65 minutes at 350 and found it to be just right if not a tad overdone...  Anyways, oven issues aside, here's a weird picture of the second batch spooning with two left over bananas:

Pre-baked and post-baked bananas living in harmony on the Upper Yeast Side.
The second loaf was much more successful.  The best part is that I actually had enough bananas in the freezer, freshly, overripe brought-home-from-school bananas on the counter to have extra after two loaves of bread.  Wild.

Do doo do do do bana-muh-nah
Do doo do do,
Sarah