King Arthur Banana Bread

Finally used up our stash of over-ripe frozen bananas. We eat a log of bananas. Occasionally, we don't finish them off before they are too ripe so we toss them in the freezer whole - peel and all. When you need them, take them out of the freezer and thaw. Or you can peel them while frozen and nuke to defrost. They're also great for making a smoothie while still frozen (sans peel of course).


Used a recipe from King Arthur Flour and their white whole wheat flour. The crumb is nice and the texture even. It's slightly dry for my taste. Probably should substitute some of the butter with applesauce, use egg substitute, and perhaps use a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and white flour.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar, light or dark, firmly packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large bananas)
3 tablespoons apricot jam or orange marmalade, optional but tasty
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, beating till smooth.

Add the mashed bananas, jam, honey, and eggs, again beating until smooth.

Add the flour, then the walnuts, stirring just until smooth.

Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top. Let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Bake the bread for 45 minutes, then gently lay a piece of aluminum foil across the top, to prevent over-browning.

Bake for an additional 25 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven; a long toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center should come out clean, with at most a few wet crumbs clinging to it. The tester shouldn't show any sign of uncooked batter. If it does, bake the bread an additional 5 minutes, or until it tests done.

Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove it from the pan, and cool it completely on a rack.


Nutritional Info:
Serving Size 1 slice (60g)
Servings Per Batch 18
Amount Per Serving
Calories 170
Calories from Fat 50
Total Fat 6g
Saturated Fat 3.5g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 35mg
Sodium 230mg
Total Carbohydrate 27g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 14g
Protein 3g