Yeast Banana Bread

Few days back we had gone to our parents place. While returning as always we would have some home grown stuff to bring back with us to Chennai. This time it was bunch of green bananas. Both hubby and Neha are not big fans of banana and in the hot Chennai weather it ripens very fast. Then I have to find out ways to use them in some form to avoid wastage. The bananas were quite raw when we got it. So few of them were immediately transformed into some stir fry as an accompaniment with rice. I just allowed few to ripen. They were as usual very sweet and nice.

So this time instead of making cakes or cookies, I thought of making

a bread with some yeast. I knew banana breads with baking soda and baking powder as the leavening agent comes out quite well. Infact banana puree acts as a good egg replacement. But I was in no mood to have a sweet cake, which I myself would end up eating. I think I have really put on weight after starting my blog and baking more regularly.

Anyways, this time the trial has to be of a Yeasted banana bread, which I thought I could persuade both hubby and Neha to eat. I planned to keep it very mildly sweet, so that I can make some sandwich and feed them. I am happy that the experiment didn’t go waste. The bread was quite flavourful and moist, though a bit on the heavier side. The cup used is 240 ml.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour 250 gm (2 cups)
• All purpose flour 50 gm
• Salt a pinch
• Honey 1 tbsp
• Instant yeast 3/4-1 tsp
• Banana puree 100 gm
• Olive oil 2 tbsp
• Milk plus water 200-240 ml

Method:

• Mix flours, salt and yeast in a big mixing bowl.
• Add the banana puree and mix well.
• Now add the honey to the milk water mixture and stir.
• Add this to the flour mixture and knead it gently using the stretch and fold method.
• Sprinkle oil and knead again for around 10-12 minutes till you get a soft and elastic dough.
• Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and cover the bowl with a moist towel.
• Keep the bowl in warm place till the dough doubles in size.
• Transfer the dough onto a clean counter and punch out the gases. Knead gently for a minute or two.
• Now roll the dough into a rectangle and roll it tightly into a log.
• Meanwhile oil a bread tin and place the shaped log into the tin and press or gently. I have used a 7 by 3 inches bread tin.
• Apply some oil or milk on top of the dough to avoid formation of skin on the top.
• Cover the tin with a big lid and allow the dough to rise till the brim of the tin.
• Meanwhile preheat the oven at 180-200 degree Celsius for atleast 10 minutes.
• Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes or till the internal temperature of the bread reaches around 90 plus degree Celsius.
• Remove the tin from the oven and apply some butter on top.
• Wait for 4-5 minutes and transfer the bread from the tin onto a cooling rack.
• Cover with a moist towel and allow it to cool well.
• Slice and serve with some jam or marmalade.