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

Halloween Pumpkin-Maple Rolls

Live from Brooklyn: Halloween Pumpkin-Maple Rolls!

We (Emily, Yi and I) were inspired by this Tasty Kitchin recipe.  We modified Lauren's recipe by using only a scant 1/2 cup of sugar in the dough, adding a little bit of pumpkin puree, Tazo Black Chai Tea concentrate, extra cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to the filling.

All photos courtesy of Yi.

It was not the cleanest process....

Nor was I particularly accurate in cutting the rolls equally...

Pre-icing drizzle:

Drizzle process shots:

These sticky rolls were at least as good as they look in Yi's photographs.

Next time ideas include: 

1. Adding more pumpkin to the dough and modifying the amount of liquid (water/milk) so that we get the right consistency
2. Rolling out the dough more thinly to get lots of layers.  
3. And along with that, not trying to get all of the filling into the rolling process because it will just ooze out the ends anyways.  Instead, saving what looks like it will ooze and adding it on top before baking.  
4. Make less icing - maybe even half as much.  We didn't use all and they were perfectly sweet and sticky.

Happy Halloween!  Lily is going to post about some Seitan (read Satan) Stew soon so stay tuned.  The pictures are half as good but the delicious factor is comparable.  

Boo,

Sar

Challah with Poppy Seeds

Challah bread is a braided, eggy loaf eaten by Jewish people on Shabbat and other holidays.  I would argue that it also makes the best bread for French Toast.  

I adapted this recipe from King Arthur Flour to be more whole wheat-y.  Partially because we ran out of all purpose flour and partially because whole wheat is healthier anyways.  "Whole wheat" means that the entire grain was ground with all parts intact - the germ, endosperm, and bran.  All-purpose white flour is ground from endosperm only.  When all parts of wheat (whole wheat) are ground to become flour, there is significantly more nutritional value (i.e. antioxidants, fiber, etc).  

We love a good grain in this apartment.  

Braided Challah Bread with Poppy Seeds

Yields one huge loaf

Time about 3 1/2 hours

Sponge

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Dough

1 cup bread flour

4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten 

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

3 tablespoons water (or milk if you are not going parve)

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 whole eggs and one yolk

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

Wash

1 egg white

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon water

Poppy Seeds (Poptional)

First, whip up the sponge.  

Let it be for 45 minutes.  

About 30 minutes after the sponge has been sitting, start to combine your dry dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl (with the exception of the 3 tbs whole wheat flour).  Stir them together.  In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.  Slowly add the sponge to the dry, stirring, and then add the wet ingredients to the sponge/dry mixture.  

Dump onto a whole wheat floured surface (use the 3 tablespoons*use more/less if you need* on your surface, the dough, and your hands).

Knead until the dough comes together.  Make sure you wash your hands and the surface well afterward since we are dealing with raw eggs.  This dough feels smoother on my hands than a dough without as much egg/oil.  

Shape the dough into a ball.  Lightly oil a bowl and turn the dough around so the whole surface gets oily.  

Let is rise until doubled about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Whip up your wash at some point while the dough rises.  

Now, for the braiding.  What to choose?  Fishtail, french, topsytail?

I went with a fancy four-braid.  If you are doing this with as a three-braid your rope will be longer.  

Divide the dough into four equal pieces.  Roll the dough into long ropes-- over a foot and under two feet.  About 16-18 inches if you are making a four braid, longer if you are only using three.  

Braid your dough.  One way to make a four piece braids is to take the left-most and go over the strand directly to its right.  Then take the right-most and go over the two middle strands.  Repeat, left-most over one to the right (KAF four-braid technique description).  Right-most over two to the left.  If that is confusing try these ways until you figure out what works for you:

Weaving

1-2-3-4: 1 over 2, 3 over 1 and 2

Once you're all braided, wash with egg wash, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Preheat the oven to 375°F during this time.  Right before the challah goes in the oven give it a second go with the egg wash (this is what gives you that nice shiny crust).  Add poppy seeds now if you'd like.  

Bake at 375°F for 35-40 minutes.  Always let bread cool completely before you cut into it.  

Shabbat Shalom

- Sarah

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I suppose I should be honest.  I haven't always liked raisins.  Actually, I used to hate raisins and everything they touched.  Oatmeal raisin cookies? Cinnamon raisin bread? No, thanks.

This all changed when Sar accused me of being pickier than she is when it comes to food.  Until then, I'd always been applauded for my ability to eat almost anything and say, "it's not that bad."  I was shocked and appalled - sure, I didn't like PB&J sandwiches and milk (still) sort of freaks me out, but these are isolated events.   Raisins were just another member of my I'd-Rather-Not list. 

But then we counted.  Sar definitely had less I'd-Rather-Not foods than I did.  It was war.  I started eating raisins because, while I'm being honest, I'll admit that I will not ever eat a PB&J sandwich and milk will never be my drink of choice.  It was awful at first - convincing myself not to pick them out of my cookies, picking the cereals packed with raisins - but eventually I learned to like them.   The more raisins, the merrier.  

What better way to celebrate raisins than Cinnamon Raisin Bread? And what better way to follow up a completely healthy Whole Wheat Loaf than with bread that's loaded with  butter and sugar?  We're all about balance in this apartment.

I used the recipe from Sweet Cheeks in the Kitchen - a great blog that came up while I was scanning TasteSpotting for a good recipe.  It's delicious bread and easy, to boot.  Next time I'll roll mine a bit thinner and maybe add some extra cinnamon-sugary goodness to amp up the swirls.  Maybe add some extra raisins, just to prove that I can handle it.

-Lil