Banana Bread

"Blues is to jazz what yeast is to bread. Without it, it's flat."
(~Carmen McRae)

Can't argue with that!

So, as the story goes, one day last week I wanted to eat something sweet. It was one of those cravings that become stronger purely for the fact, desserts are top of the 'prohibited list' :) Well, when we talk about desserts we usually are taking into account lots of butter, cream, sugar and white flour. So I got around the dietary restrictions by cutting out oodles of butter, sugar and white flour, and of course cream was conspicuous by its absence!

A quick 'dekko' and I found two over-ripe bananas, honey (a different kind, will share pic) and harina integral de triga fina (it's atta that's ground fine, bran and all) It looks like atta, a bit more brown, but doesn't taste exactly like the atta we know, but it's close.

Honey from Costavolcano; supplier of natural/organic foods

Anyway, with no idea of what I was going to do but sure that it involved the said ingredients, I started out. (Until I started to type this recipe, I didn't have a clue that recipes of breads with trigo fina existed on the net. A search for what trigo fina actually is brought me to a long list of things that are already being baked!)

Anyway, to get to my basic recipe of banana bread. I usually go by the measurements, ratios etc that mummy applied to her baking. It was a standard application for her baking. It varied only according to what she was baking: cakes, breads, or biscuits.

Ingredients

Over-ripe bananas........................................................2 big ones, or three medium ones

Trigo fina (wholewheat flour, finely ground)..............2 cups, standard measuring cups

Dry yeast (instant)........................................................1 level tsp + a pinch

Honey (semisolid).........................................................1/2 or 3/4 cup. Depends on how sweet you want it (I kept it low)

Eggs...............................................................................4

EVOO............................................................................2 tbsps

Vanilla extract...............................................................a few drops

Add the yeast to the flour. Mix well.

Now add the extra virgin olive oil and mix well into the flour with your fingers.

Beat up the eggs. No need to beat too much, just enough to blend the yolks and whites properly.

Add the vanilla to the eggs and whip to meld.

Mash the bananas well. There should be no pieces.

Add the honey to the eggs and beat to incorporate.

Pour the egg and honey mixture into the flour and mix to meld into a thick batter. Make sure there are no lumps.

Now add the banana mash. Fold into the batter properly.

You can use a bread tin or cake tin to bake the bread, but I preferred a muffin tray. I find it easier and better to serve or eat individual muffin/bread.

If it's a muffin tray you can use muffin/cupcake lining. Or you could simply grease the moulds and pour in the batter.

If you are using a bread tin, depending on the type of tin you are using you could just grease it or use a butter paper lining.

Bake at 190 gas mark for about 25-30 minutes. Keep a check however inbetween given time

To see if it's done, pierce a toothpick or satay stick in the middle. If it comes out clean it's done. (Otherwise bake a little longer according to the state of the bread)

Remove from oven and leave to cool.

I had kept the sweetness low so we could warm the muffins, and pour maple syrup over it,  when we wanted to eat them. The maple syrup soaks into the muffin via the cross cut on the top or holes pierced over the top.

It goes fantastically well with ginger tea or coffee: breakfast or tea time!

So simple and easy! You could add walnuts if you wish, I wanted it simple, besides walnuts aren't on my foodlist yet!

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