So I had two baking projects this weekend. One was not exactly a fail, but not exactly a win, either. The other one, however, is always a crowd-pleaser. At least at my house. Where the crowd consists of Mike.
Banana bread! This recipe comes from the King Arthur Flour Baking Companion, but apparently isn’t posted on their website.
It goes like this (as I remember, possibly incorrectly):
Take two eggs.
Mix with a cup of sugar and two teaspoons vanilla. Here’s the sugar anyway. You might have noticed on the other photos, but I got a new macro lens last week.
And mix these together. Then take between 7 and 9 ounces of very, ultra, super-ripe bananas.
These are some sad-looking bananas. I also froze them, and that didn’t help their looks.
Mash them up with a potato masher and add them to your mixer bowl.
In another bowl, mix together a teaspoon each of baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, and half a teaspoon of nutmeg.
Add flour (11 3/8 oz.) and whisk to combine.
Then! Sift!
This was the first time I used my new sifter. I lost my old sifter, and then I bought a replacement sifter that broke on the VERY FIRST TRY. Then I ordered this one from KAF.
It worked well, but I think I prefer the fluffy piles that result from just using my fine-mesh strainer as a sifter. The downside is that is so messy. This is at least nicely contained.
Add these dry ingredients to your mixer bowl and mix some more.
Then add a cup of buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream (I used buttermilk because I always have buttermilk and I am always looking for something to use it in).
Next you add your super-secret special ingredient. It can be chocolate chips, or whatever else you think might work. I added half a cup of coconut, because Mike is also a coconut fiend.
Then there was something about a greased and floured pan, which I read as, “Spray with Baker’s Joy.”
Scrape it into the pan. I topped it with some sugar sparkles.
Then you bake it for at least an hour at 350. I think mine actually needed to be baked for fifteen minutes more to be done on the inside, using my foolproof skewer testing method.
Then you let it cool on a cooling rack. If you are me, you come back to find pieces missing already.
More macro shots:
