Banana Sweet Bread

With a great sweet dough recipe, variations are endless.  You can make raisin bread or cinnamon rolls or even hot cross buns.  All home bakers should have at least one great sweet dough recipe in their repertoire. The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook is a good place to start. 

Bread is magic and every country has its own way of conjuring yeast and flour and water into nourishment that not only sustains life but also gives many a reason to continue living.  (Thinking of my friend, Carol, here who would probably choose bread if she were only allowed to eat one thing for the rest of her life.)  From the roti canai of Malaysia and the baguette of France to the pão de queijo of Brazil and the aish baladi of Egypt, we have taken bread to heart as we learn to love the places we have called home.  Bread is comfort, from the therapeutic act of kneading the dough and the deep yeasty smell as it rises in a warm place, to the heady aroma while it bakes, drawing the family near.  I guarantee, you’ll never have so many friends as when fresh bread comes out of your oven.

This recipe is adapted from my old standby, Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, 1980 edition. 

Ingredients
For the bread dough:
1/3 cup or 75g sugar
1 packet active dry yeast (1/4oz or 7g) I use Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise.
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2-3 cups or 315-375g flour
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/3 cup or 75g butter
1 egg
1 medium banana

For the filling:
2 medium bananas
3 tablespoons or 45g butter
Good pinch salt
1/4-1/2 cup or 50-100g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method
Put your sugar, yeast, salt and half a cup of flour in the bowl of your stand mixer or other bowl if you are going to use hand beaters.

Put the milk and butter in a microwaveable container and heat until it reaches between 120 and 130°F or 49-54 °C.  If you don’t have a thermometer handy, this would feel quite hot to the touch (I mean, put a finger in it.) but you would be able to keep your finger in it comfortably.  The butter doesn’t need to completely melt.

Pour the warm milk mixture into the mixing bowl and beat until combined.

Add in one banana and one egg.   Beat well.

Add one cup of flour and beat well.

Add more flour, a half a cup at a time until you have a soft dough and it’s too stiff to beat in the mixer anymore.   Use a wooden spoon or a sturdy spatula to mix in the last of the flour.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a floured surface.  Knead well for about five minutes.

Wash your mixing bowl out and spray the inside with a little non-stick spray or rub with butter.

Form a ball out of your dough and pop it back in the bowl to rest and rise.  Ideally, you want it to double in size.  This can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour, depending on your yeast.

Cover with a cloth and if your room is colder than 80-85 °F or °C, put the stopper in your sink and fill it part way up with hot tap water.  Set the bowl in the sink.

While the dough is rising, grease your bread pan and make the filling.

Melt the butter in a medium sized non-stick skillet and slice the two bananas into the pan.  Throw in the pinch of salt.

The butter will start to bubble up and the bananas will caramelize a little.

They are done when the milk liquids have evaporated and only the oily part of the butter is left.  Set it aside to cool.

When your dough has risen sufficiently, punch it down.  Spread it or roll it out into a rectangle (about 12x18in or 30x45cm) on top of a large sheet of cling film on a clean counter top.

Distribute the bananas and butter evenly over the rectangle of dough.

Sprinkle with the light brown sugar.  As the dough is already sweet, I used about a 1/4 cup of sugar but if your family loves things sweet, feel free to use more.  Sprinkle on the teaspoon of cinnamon.

Start rolling the dough up on the short side until you have a neat tube.  Fold the sides of the roll under.

Place the dough seam side down in your greased bread pan.  Sprinkle with a little flour and, use a sharp knife or lame´ to cut some slits in the top of the dough.  Set in a warm place - this could be the kitchen sink with hot water again, if necessary - and allow to rise until doubled.

When it’s getting close, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Almost flowing over the sides of the pan! 

Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the crust is a nice golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when thumped.  Turn it out on a wire rack to cool a little before cutting.  This stuff is great just as it is but it is even better when slathered with some butter.

For breakfast the next day, assuming there is any left, toast it and apply butter liberally.  Delicious!

Enjoy!

Jam Yogurt Muffins #MuffinMonday

The best part about these muffins is how versatile the recipe is.  You can change the flavor by using whatever yogurt you have in the refrigerator, along with whatever jam you have on hand.   This time I chose strawberry yogurt and a mixed berry jam but you could do peach yogurt with peach preserves or lemon yogurt with orange marmalade or, or, or …  whatever combination takes your fancy.

I have to warn you that if you are the type of person who loves to eat muffin batter, despite the danger of raw eggs, do not tempt yourself by tasting this one.  You will end up eating the whole bowl and not baking any muffins.  And that would be a shame.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup or 100g light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup or 120g sweetened yogurt with fruit
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml jam of your choice
1/2 cup or 115g butter, melted and cooled

Topping:  2 tablespoons jam, warmed, to brush on baked muffins.  Optional.

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups.

Combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your milk, yogurt, egg, vanilla, jam and melted butter.

Pour your egg/milk mixture into your dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.

Divide the muffin batter between the muffin cups.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Remove the muffins and cool completely on a wire rack.

As always, let your helper aid you with the washing up.

Once the muffins are cooled, warm your extra jam briefly in the microwave and then brush it onto the muffins to glaze.

Enjoy!

I’m on a touring holiday right now with my mom so if I don’t answer comments right away, please know that I am still delighted when you leave them and will respond as soon as I have internet access again.

Meyer Lemon Upside-down Cake

The beauty of the internet is that we can learn about things that we would otherwise not experience in our lives.  We gain access to information and products that might have been out of reach before.  The downside of the internet is that sometimes it introduces us to things we still can’t have.  For years now, I have been reading about Meyer lemons.  They grow well in places with warm climates and most of the fruit becomes ready for picking in the wintertime.  If you plant Meyer lemons from seeds, it takes more than four years for the plant to produce lemons.  But most importantly, they are a hybrid citrus combining the tartness of lemons and the sweetness of oranges.  Who wouldn’t want to try such a lovely fruit?

If you follow my Facebook page, you know that I finally live somewhere that Meyer lemons are available.  Sadly, I don’t mean they are grown locally, although there is really no reason they couldn’t be, but they are imported for sale at my nearby grocery store.  I struggled with the outrageous expense and the fact that they had been flown clear from the other side of the world.  And then I broke down and bought some.   Lovely, truly lovely.   My bag had only six lemons so I had to choose my recipes carefully.  But I knew when I first cradled that yellow mesh bag in my eager arms, that upside-down cake would be one of them.


Ingredients
2 Meyer lemons
1/2 cup or 115g butter, plus extra for buttering the pan
3/4 cup, packed, or 150g light brown sugar

For the cake batter:
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
1 cup or 225g sugar
1/2 cup or 115g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.  Prepare your baking pan (about 10in or 25cm diameter) by buttering it liberally and then lining it with parchment paper cut to the exact size of the bottom.  You can take your chances and not line it if you have a non-stick pan but sometimes caramelizing sugar will stick.  And that is one of the risks of upside down cakes.

Melt your butter and allow it to cool slightly.  Add in the brown sugar and stir well.

Pour this mixture into the baking pan.  It should spread right out and cover the bottom.

Slice your lemons very thinly and remove the seeds from the slices.

Starting in the middle, cover your sugar butter mixture with the lemon slices, overlapping them ever so slightly.   As you get to the outside, you may have to cut some slices in half to achieve full coverage.

In a large mixing bowl, beat all of the cake batter ingredients at low speed until well mixed, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently with a rubber spatula.

Increase the beater speed to medium and beat for five minutes, stopping every couple of minutes to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Slowly pour the batter over the lemon slices in your baking pan.   Smooth out the top with your rubber spatula.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes.  The cake should begin pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Invert your serving plate on the top of the cake pan and turn both over quickly and decisively.  The cake should fall out of the pan on to the serving dish.

Gently lift the cake pan off and then peel the parchment paper off of the cake.  If any lemon slices have stuck to the parchment, ease them carefully off with the tip of a knife as you peel back the parchment.

Use a spatula to scrape up any syrup left in the pan and drizzle it over the cake.

This wonderful cake is sticky and tangy and sweet.  It will be most appreciated by anyone who is a fan of marmalade.  Or Meyer lemons.  Or cake.

I took this to a dinner party so I don’t have any photos of the cake being cut but I can tell you that each slice was served to warm acclaim with a generous dollop of crème fraîche.  I suggest you do the same.

Enjoy!