BANANA BREAD

Banana Bread

This smell fills the house and makes my mouth water! Don't you just love to smell fresh-baked anything? Guess who woke up and said, "Something smells good!" And the commercial says the best part of waking up is coffee. Really?

This is my tried and true, handed-down-from-my-mom recipe for banana bread. 

As you can see I've made a few notes over the years to make sure I get consistent results. 

The baking times vary depending on the size of loaf pans I use. 

I use the single loaf size if we aren't planning to share a loaf.

You may notice this inverted loaf is gently coated in sugar. Instead of greasing and flouring a loaf pan, try grease and then lightly sugar it instead. I do this when I bake cakes too. You'll note this came out of the pan smoothly.

These two are a nice size to use when I want to make one and then take a fresh-baked loaf to a neighbor (sorry I didn't do that this morning Dayna)!

These Pampered Chef loaf pans are what I use when making mini loaves for bake sales or special little gifts for the holidays.

Here's the easy part:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Measure carefully and stir together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

In the blender put the eggs, ripe bananas, sugar, and lastly the butter.  

(I cut the butter into 4 chunks.  It seems to blend easier that way.)

Pour the banana mixture over the dry and mix them together.

Pour into the prepared pan or pans and bake!

My large loaf took 50 minutes today because the bananas were a bit large.  So always test your loaf with a toothpick to make sure it's thoroughly baked. The toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle.

Invert the loaf pan onto a cooling rack and let that melted sugar soak into the bread for about 5 minutes.

Slice and enjoy! 

I make this bread often and keep it on hand for JoPapa's breakfasts.  I haven't tried shipping this, but if you ask me nicely, I might be convinced to send or bring one to you...for the right price of course.

:-)

Or, you might try baking it yourself so your house will smell as yummy as mine!  Your family will love it too!

Buns

This recipe is one of the most versatile recipes I have, hence the reason I make it so often.  It can be made into a loaf of French bread, bread sticks, buns or pizza.  It's quick and it's never failed to please. 

Tonight, I cheated and didn't even let it rise the full time and yet it turned out deliciously for dinner! We had left over pork roast which I had warmed I my little crock pot with barbecue sauce and then pulled it with two forks untill it was shredded. Served on these buns fresh out of the oven, it was warm and delightfully delicious for dinner.  Let me know how you like this recipe when you try it.

1 package yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water with 1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon shortening 

4 cups flour

Mix all together, beat well as you add each cup of flour. (I use an electric mixer). By the fourth cup of flour the dough gets harder to stir.  Cover with a cloth and place in a warm spot to rise. Stir down every 10 minutes. Do this 5 times. Shape into desired form: one loaf, or a dozen breadsticks or buns, or two pizza crusts. Let rise 15 to 30 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes for bread sticks and buns, longer for a loaf.  I've often hurried this dough and only stirred it down down 2 or 3 times before I have shaped it.

If you are using this dough for pizza crust, you can just mix and let it rise once before using. Then just pile on your favorite sauce and toppings and bake for 20-25 minutes.  

Can you smell this?