More bananas!

Have I mentioned my love for bananas? Mmmmm....

{Banana Bread}

1 cup mashed ripe bananas {about 2 or 3 bananas}
3/4 cup chopped nuts

3 tbsp oil
1/2 cup honey or molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup white bread flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda {the picture shows baking powder, but it should be baking soda}
1/4 tsp salt

First you need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Then mash the bananas. You can do this with a potato masher, in the blender, or however else you can come up with. We do it in the blender, and chop the nuts at the same time. If you do this, you'll want to add the nuts slowly so they get chopped up well.

Once your bananas and nuts are mashed and chopped, mix them with the honey, oil, and vanilla extract.











Now you want to add the other ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt), and mix everything together.











Once everything is all mixed together, scoop the mixture out into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Mama likes to use spray oil for this. She also has a loaf pan that is a little too big, but it's okay. The bread still turns out great!











The bread should be baked for 45 minutes. Then let it cool, and eat it!











On minute 43 of the bread baking today, I smooshed my fingers in a drawer. Mama had to come snuggle with me until about minute 60, but the bread turned out okay. Hooray!!

More Bread!

Mmmmmm!! My mama made some more bread today, and it was yummy!! She made it a different way than she has before. She said she got different instructions this time. She even said she would share them with us. Hooray!! {Clap, clap clap}

This comes to us from the back of the King Arthur Flour Whole Wheat Flour bag. Here is mama to tell us more:

{Whole Wheat Bread}
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in 2 tbsp water
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
1/4 cup oil {the recipe calls for vegetable oil, but you can use whatever your preferred oil is}
1/4 cup honey
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour {I used 2 1/2 cups wheat and 1 cup white flour}
1/4 cup nonfat dried milk {optional}
1 1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl.











Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it becomes smooth and supple. {You may also knead this dough in an electric mixer or food processor, or in a bread machine programmed for "dough" or "manual."}










Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise until puffy, though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 60 minutes depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape into an 8-inch log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap. {Spray oil is great for this step!}











Allow bread to rise for 30-60 minutes, or until it's crowned about 1 inch above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly.











Bake the bread in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. Test it for doneness by removing it from the pan and thumping it on the bottom {it should sound hollow}, or measuring the interior temperature with an instant-read thermometer {it should read 190 degrees at the center of the loaf.} Remove the bread from the oven, turn it out of the pan, and cool it on a rack before slicing.











Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature. Yield: 1 loaf.

I wasn't able to eat the bread because I had surgery in my mouth yesterday, but Gabe, his Aunt Tina, and Gabe's daddy said it was very good. Better than last week's as a matter of fact. Try it, enjoy it, and let me know what you think!

How to make bread

Here's my mama's bread instructions. We make it together every week. Next week we're going to try the ones on the back of our new wheat flour. We'll let you know how it works.

In the meantime, I'll let mama tell you how to make our bread...

{Honey Wheat Bread}

3 cups warm water
3/4 cup honey
1 tbsp (1 pkg) yeast
3 cups of white flour
4 cups whole wheat flour
{or 3 cups whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup almonds, 1 cup rolled oats}
3 tbsp melted margarine or butter
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp oil or oil spray

If using almonds and rolled oats, grind them to a coarse meal in food processor or blender.

{Note: the dough will not rise as well if using this method.}

Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and mix in the following:
3 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp yeast
3 cups of white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour




{Note: when adding the honey, I've found it's easiest to spray or brush your measuring cup with your oil. The honey comes right out!}

Stir together and let sit for about half an hour, or until partly risen.










Add:
3 tbsp melted margarine or margarine
1/4 cup honey {or more or less as desired}
1 tbsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour, plus additional flour (1 cup +/- ) for kneading.



Turn the dough out on to a flat floured surface.









While the dough is out of the bowl, wash the bowl so it's clean of excess dough. Or, you can just get another bowl.









Knead the dough until it is slightly sticky, but pulling away from the counter top.









Spray or brush your bowl with oil. Put the dough in the bowl, turning once to coat with oil.









Now cover it with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for about an hour. {Until dough is doubled in size}









Punch the dough down and divide into three medium or two large loaves. Put into greased loaf pans.









Let the dough rise again. If you used the almonds & rolled oats, it will probably only rise to about the level of the pans. If you used another cup of flour instead, it should rise about an inch above.









Bake at 350 for 25 min for medium loaves, 35 min for large loaves.









Turn out of pans and let cool. You can brush the tops with margarine if desired {makes a softer crust.

{If you want to see bigger versions of the pictures, just click on them!}