We Knead To Bake #31 : Yeasted Banana Sandwich Bread

    Banana bread as we know it is usually a moist, sweet, cake-like quick bread, that is a bread that is leavened with baking powder.  This month’s bread however is a twist on not just banana bread but also the classic white sandwich bread.

     This Banana Bread is a yeasted slightly sweet sandwich bread that makes particularly excellent peanut butter sandwiches. Also try making French toast with it .You can also make savoury sandwiches with this Banana Bread or serve it on the side with curries or soup.

    This is a recipe for Sandwich Bread so it’s best to leave it plain. If you would like to flavour the bread with something though, here are some suggestions for flavour pairings/ combinations that go well with banana.

Fruit - Apricot, Blueberry, Cherry, Date, Fig, Guava, Kiwi, Kumquat, Lime, Mango, Orange, Papaya, Passion Fruit, Pineapple, Pomegranate, Raspberry, Strawberry

Spices - Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Tea

Others - Caramel, Coconut, Coffee, Dark Chocolate, Hazelnut, Honey, Macadamia, Maple, Oatmeal, Pecan, Walnuts, White Chocolate

Yeasted Banana Sandwich Bread

(Adapted from http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/yeasted-banana-sandwich-bread-recipe)

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm milk

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tbsp vital wheat gluten*(optional)

25gm butter, soft at room temperature

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp honey

2 medium sized bananas chopped up (about 1 1/2 cups more or less)**

Method:

*If you can find bread flour use that instead of all-purpose flour. Otherwise use vital wheat gluten with all-purpose flour for a more “chewy” textured bread. You can leave out the gluten if you don’t have it and use just all-purpose flour as well.

**This measurement is not critical, though too much or too little banana will affect the softness of your dough and texture of your bread.

    Put all the ingredients except the milk, in a large bowl or the bowl of your machine. Add 3/4 cup of milk and knead until you have a shaggy dough. Add more milk if you think your dough needs it to get this consistency.

      Knead further by hand until you have a soft, smooth and elastic dough that’s not sticky. Shape it into a ball and place it in an oiled bowl and let it rise for about 1 1/2 hours or 2 hours till about double in volume.

        Gently deflate the dough and shape the dough into a loaf that will fit into a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf tin. Loosely cover the loaf tin and let it rise for about an hour until it is rounded and almost at the edges of your loaf tin.

       Brush with a little milk and top with a some oats if you like, otherwise leave it plain. Bake at 180F (350F) for about 40 to 50 minutes or till the bread is done, a nice brown on top and sounds hollow when tapped.

Let it cool completely before slicing it. This recipe makes one medium sized loaf.


Sending to Bready Steady Go happening  @  Jen’s Food and Utterly Scrummy Food For Families