esrosedotblog

The other day I made banana bread in a fit of nostalgia.

Also because this time of year we get over ripe bananas on a regular basis.

I am not sure why as the temperatures in the house are always at 77-78 winter and summer.

Maybe it is just that the bananas do have to live a very short while in the outside air on the way to Ralphs and even more briefly on the way home.

But it is as cool at Ralphs as our house, cooler!

In any case, in out or all around, the bananas get overripe and it is sad to throw them out.

So, I had a craving for banana bread which cannot be satisfied in the baked section of Ralphs, so I had to raid the baking materials department. I had no baking powder. No shortening which my recipe calls for in the old Better Homes Cookbook.

I had just bought the right size bake pan for another thing baked cake kind of thing, salmon loaf. I have made little hand formed loaves for years and baking them in the cast iron pan but they sometimes slump and it is not really the right thing to use. Even though I am the master of the improvised utensil.

So, I got my ingredients together. I had everything else. And I figured I would try without shortening and use oil.

So far so good.

Some quick breads use it, why not the banana.

I do not have a mixer. That got left in Boston 16 years ago. A KitchenAid which I loved but I had already decided that my retirement would not be marked by cooking or baking. Nothing more complicated than, well, a salmon loaf.

Mix by hand. Two minutes after the slow mix? OK.

I made an effort.

The bread rose well. It has to sit overnight to "settle" so I had the first of it this morning.

It tastes and chews good. The color gets darker from the top to the bottom, the result of raising I think. Also perhaps that I didn't mix it enough. Or perhaps I needed to mash the banana more. Or less. Or was it the shortening?

Hard to tell. Too many variables.

But look at the photo. It is darker toward the bottom of the bread also.

I will get some shortening to see. Or not. I am not sure that there will be any repeat. But in the meantime, a snack for the freezer and occasional eating. I made it so that it will yield two servings straight from the freezer to the microwave (12 seconds) then to the table or mouth.

Labels: cooking