TWD: Black & White Banana Loaf

Well, I can't marble anything to save my life. I've tried a handful of times but I just can't get it. Although, this time shouldn't really count because I, like many other TWD bloggers were cursed with the runny batter. I have a few theories. Too much banana, too mushy bananas, overly melted butter... those are my best guesses. I think my issue was a combo of very mushy bananas, because I let them get black which took a lot of willpower on my part. Bananas are so nasty, especially when they ferment on the counter and look nasty. Also, I stuck my butter underneath the oven heat release vent to speed up the room temperature process and instead got very drippy butter. Anyway, I just can't marble.

Funny story, I thought this week's TWD was actually next week's. When we were at the grocery store, there was a certain item on sale that I bought in preparation of next week's recipe and I made it. I started my draft for the post and checked the TWD site and realized I made the recipe a week early. ARGHH... That's okay, I took a couple bananas from work the same day because I was just gonna make both recipes the same day. Alas, I did not. We left for LA on Saturday morning and I just didn't have the time. I came home to some nasty bananas that were ripe for the baking.

I say nasty bananas all the time because bananas are nasty. I hate them actually. There is an exception though. I will eat bread type things that contain banana, i.e. banana bread, banana nut muffins, probably not cake though. I am a weird person. Aside from that, I like this bread, or cake, whatever. I think it will taste even better tomorrow when all the flavors really have a chance to come out and what not. The crust is super yummy too, mine came out perfectly crunchy. I made a couple additions though; 1/3 cup chopped walnuts in the plain batter, and 1/3 cup chocolate chips in the chocolate batter. Yum! This week's TWD in one word: banana-y

Yummy Biscuits

For some reason, I always have a craving for biscuits. I'm not sure if it is the sweet honey goodness of Popeye's biscuits or the rich buttery taste of KFC. Either way, I always want biscuits, but every recipe I can find online seems to contain at least one ingredient that I don't have on hand.

I wake up this morning and I am STARVING. I decide that since I just got my wonderful Baking book by Dorie Greenspan, I would try the biscuit recipe that I actually have all the ingredients for. It was super easy, very quick, and in about 20 minutes I was eating insanely good flaky biscuits. It is certainly a no fail recipe that I will probably find myself making again and again.

As a special bonus to myself, and because I always want something sweet for breakfast, I decided to try and mimic Popeye's and I made a 1:1 ratio of butter and honey into a pre bake glaze for the biscuits. It gave them a beautiful golden color with a slight crunch and a delicate sweet flavor. Yummy!

Soda Bread = Better Than Soda Muffins

A while back I made soda bread and Glenn and I really liked it. Glenn always brings me home the Bon Appetit Magazine from work and as he was going through it, he spotted a recipe that intrigued him. This was Giant Soda Muffins. Soda Bread is super easy to make and I figured I could just whip those together while the ice cream was being mixed and the brownies from hell were baking because I only need a bowl and a wooden spoon.

Giant Soda Muffins

nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter at room temperature
1 cup raisins
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a jumbo muffin tin (1 cup capacity) with nonstick spray.

Whisk next six ingredients in a large bowl.

Add butter. Using fingertips, blend butter into mixture until it is incorporated and it starts to forms crumbs.

Whisk buttermilk and egg together. Add to dry ingredients and stir to blend.

Spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake muffins until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 23 minutes.

Remove muffins from pan and cool slightly on rack before serving.

Bananananananananas... ewwww

It's no secret that I hate bananas. I actually despise them, and just smelling them on our counter two days after we bought them was making me sick. I was not going to wait any longer for these bananas to ferment in their nasty stench anymore. I bought them at Fresh & Easy with the intention of making banana nut bread, which I happen to love, go figure, but with a twist on it... Nutella swirled in there. Oh yeah. As I am making this, I look at it and decide that isn't enough of a twist. What do I do? I throw in some cocoa, some dark brown sugar, some nutmeg, a little extra butter, and a little extra flour. Who knows how this is going to turn out. It could quite possibly be downright disgusting. Then again, it could be positively amazing. We will see. The mushy congealed mess that is banana bread batter is sitting in the oven right now with about 45 minutes to go. I am actually quite excited for this one. I was a little more adventurous this time around. I promised myself that I would only have a little and then give the rest to Glenn's friend Calogero who loves Nutella a little more than I do. Good idea. Update to follow.

Update: Ugggghhhhhh.... So i guess I tinkered a tad too much. I have had to add an additional 10-15 minutes on to the original baking time. Either I messed with it too much and it will never fully bake, or it just takes a really long time. i think this is why I never make bread. I need instant gratification. Even some tasty batter is enough to tide me over. There's no way I am about to eat banana in the raw though, because that is just plain nasty. At least if I ruined this, I only lost 1/2 a jar of Nutella. Any more would be a travesty. Another update to follow soon, but I really need to go to bed.

Morning After Update: Well, after I got some sleep and I wasn't so mad at the banana bread, I decided to have some for breakfast. Not too bad. The swirls of Nutella were nice, but not enough. When I didn't have Glenn influencing my thoughts as he further emphasizes how much he hates hazelnut, I was able to actually enjoy it a little. I will post the recipe a little later, and maybe someone may have a suggestion as to how to improve it. It took too long in the oven to bake all the way through. The inside is nice and moist but the crust is overdone. Next time I will just make some regular banana bread with maybe a little cocoa thrown in. I thought that was a nice touch.

Almost As Good As King's Hawaiian

I always loved whenever we went to the grocery store to pick up dinner because we were too lazy to make it that night. Why, do you ask? Well, because with that lovely grocery store made dinner there was always a bread companion. That companion was always King's Hawaiian Bread. I thought to myself recently, when we were having a somewhat Hawaiian themed dinner and I was feeling particularly adventurous, I decided to find a recipe, and find I did.

Unfortunately though, I misread the directions the first time and didn't realize how long the dough had to proof. However, this did not stop me from continuing in my adventure. Dinner went on without the bread though, and we had Hawaiian bread late that night.

The bread was really good, but who knows when I will ever make it again. Besides, it just looks like a golden mound of sweet yeasty goodness. In the off chance that I make this anytime soon, I will post a picture.

Hawaiian Sweet Bread

7 to 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup mashed potato flakes
2/3 cup sugar
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup pineapple juice
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine 3 cups flour with the next five ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, heat milk, water, butter, and juice to 120-130 degrees F. Add to dry ingredients and beat just until moistened. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Beat in vanilla and then stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn dough onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down, and turn into a lightly floured surface. Divide into thirds and shape each into a ball. Place in three greased 9 inch round baking pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cover loosely with foil if top browns too quickly. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Makes 3 loaves.