The base of the bread is your basic French Bread, Pain de Campagne (The companion of pain. lol)
BUT I added banana and other flavorants to give an approximation of banana bread and you get a stronger taste of banana.
One other person beat me, but they used a loaf pan. WHY? And it doesn’t seem like they were trouble shooting the quick bread recipe like I was. I also use honey, not pure refined sugar, so it’s gently sweet.
I’ve been playing around with the recipe for a few years and settled on one I like. Chock full of banana flavor, less pronounced spices, might take a little longer to make, but I swear it is good and a good way to sneak in nutrition into your family meals if you have some time on a weekend and some overripe bananas. This will EASILY serve a family of 4.
DRY INGREDIENTS:
2 cups and 1/4 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp yeast
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
WET INGREDIENTS
3 overripe or very ripe bananas.
1/4 cup honey
1/4 milk
water (enough to form the ball)
Optional: pumpkin seeds or nuts of choice for the top of the bread.
Notes: I am not responsible for any substitutions you make.
- Mix in a medium mixing bowl 1/2 cup of flour with yeast and a squirt of honey (doesn’t have to be much). mix until the mixture is wet, but combined so it looks like pudding. We’re forming a biga.
- Let the mixture sit for about 15-20 minutes or until it gets bubbly/doubles in size. (like when you cook a pancake)
- to this mixture, add the rest of the flour (both kinds—All purpose and whole wheat flour), with the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice). It will be dry and kinda clumpy.
- Add the banana and kinda mush it together with your fingers.
5. Add the milk, the rest of the honey, and the water until it forms a ball. Be careful to add the water gradually and mix it in the bowl. The banana will make the dough wetter than usual if you’ve made bread before, so add only a quarter cup of water at a time.
6. It should form a nice ball that’s not too sticky, but is still holding together. Fold it over so the rough sides are at the bottom and cover and put in a warm place for 1 hour or when it doubles in bulk.
7. Set your oven for 450 degrees F (233 Celsius) If you’re using a pizza stone, it should already be in the oven.
8. Punch down the bread and put it on a greased sheet pan. Put on pumpkin seeds or nuts of your choice into the top of the ball. Let it rise for another 30 minutes, or when it doubles in bulk.
9. Cook for 20 minutes at 450 degrees F and then lower it to 400 F and cook for another 30-40 minutes or until nicely golden brown. You should be able to smell the difference because it’ll smell less yeasty and more like caramelization.
10. Once done, you can knock on the bread, and get a sound back and the top of the pumpkin seeds or nuts will be browned and make a sound.
11. Let the bread rest for about 20 minutes after pulling out of the oven so you don’t burn yourself.
12. Serve.
This is healthier than your average banana nut bread because it has less sugar, and uses whole wheat. But it also packs more banana flavor. {read}