The Fresh Loaf

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6 or 7 Bananas Banana Bread

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

6 or 7 Bananas Banana Bread

I've put a link in for the recipe here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/70351/apwwrye-banana-bread

What makes this recipe different, no sweeteners ( unless you count the bananas and cranberries)

The last batch I made with 100% sprouted whole wheat flour was almost too sweet for my liking.

The secret is squeezing as much of the juice out of the bananas as possible then boiling it down to a syrup before adding it back into the batter.

The recipe is for a 9x5 loaf pan, and I've made it by creaming the butter into the flour first and putting the frozen butter into the hot syrup to cool it down faster.

If you like a more cake-like crumb, you might want to cream the butter into the flour first. This goes great with coffee or on its own.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

Freeze the Bananas:

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

Freezing any fruit (even bananas) breaks down the cell walls and allows the juice to flow. Leaving them out on the countertop overnight gives the juice plenty of time to seep out.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

Pour the Bananas into a strainer over a pot for 30 or 40 minutes. Doesn't hurt to move the banana pulp around a bit while you are waiting as some of the juice can pool up and never drain.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

There are three distinct phases I've noticed. First it will boil almost 4X volume and produce banana scum. I use my strainer and spoon the scum into the strainer over the pot. Once I have most of the scum out of the pot, I dump the scum in with the banana pulp. The second phase can take about ten minutes on a medium heat to develop another 3X volume rolling boil. This can happen several times before settling down to what I think of as a lava boil. This is where the rolling boil stabilizes and forms little pockets where the boil falls in on itself. I tried to take a picture of this so it will make sense.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

One can add any dried fruit you like (or none at all, I suppose), but I did something a little different for this batch. Every year I make Black Currant Jam. If I have a really big crop of Black Currants, I will put them in a jar, pour a good Vodka over them and leave them in my basement for a year or two.

Yesterday, I poured out the "Juice" from two years ago and had a bunch of leftover berries—very alcoholic black currants at that. Not one to waste things, I added a bit of agave nectar and half a cup of sugar and boiled the lot for about 15 minutes before straining the juice for syrup and tossing the remaining solids into a dehydrator for a couple of hours.

Surprisingly, the currants still were tart and had a very nice mellower black currant flavor that I added to my banana Bread in place of cranberries this time.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

I've done it both ways and changed my mind today at the last minute and melted the thawed butter into the cooling Banana syrup. This makes it easier to get all the syrup out of the pan.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

to score the batter. I think you can see the results.

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Thanks for sharing.

I love frozen, overriped bananas and eat them almost daily for dessert or make smoothies with them.

Yippee 

Benito's picture
Benito

Wonderful, that looks delicious.

Benny

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

I made the bread this AM with 1+ cups of whole wheat and one cup of oat bran. OMG, it was soooooo good. I’ll be updating the recipe as this is such a great taste, and healthier too!.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

This is the final adjustment to this bread. Finally got my wife's seal of approval!