Baking and More Baking

Posted by Margalit

I spent most of today baking. We'd run out of bread. Completely, totally out of bread. Unheard of in our house. I just haven't been paying attention in this heat, I guess. So I made two loaves of oatmeal bread, two loaves of whole wheat bread, and this banana breakfast bread. Three of the loaves went right into the freezer as soon as they cooled off. That way we'll have some bread to fall back on. Tomorrow I'll make focaccia, a couple of loaves of 12 grain bread, and maybe a couple of challah. With all that bread in the freezer, I won't have to bake again for at least 2 weeks.

Breakfast Banana-Bran Bread
(or, as my kids call it, 4B bread)

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 c. melted butter
2/3 c. brown sugar (can increase up to 1 c., or use part or all white sugar)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1/3 c. oat bran (optional: can be replaced with equal part flour)
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. plus 2 tbs. a-p flour
1/2 c. chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:

If baking in a conventional oven: preheat oven to 350F.
Butter a loaf tin (8x4) or spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, use a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula to mix the mashed bananas with the melted butter.
Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.
Sprinkle over the baking powder and salt and mix.
Sprinkle over the oat bran and flours and mix just barely to combine (don't try to smooth the lumps).
Gently but quickly fold in the pecans.
Pour mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour.