Breadmaker Banana Nut Bread II

[calzephyr]

Ah, the breadmaker. It always seems like a good idea at the time of purchase, with visions and hopes of fresh baked bread. After the first few loaves though, it's soon forgotten and lives the rest of its sad life between the panini press and food processor.


Our breadmaker has probably seen more use than most, and today I tried out a recipe called Banana Nut Bread II without the nuts. I was skeptical that our breadmaker could handle a batter as it doesn't have a cake setting, but someone with the same model left a comment in the reviews, so I tried used the Expressbake setting.

The breadmaker is an odd time waster. First you're compelled to watch it mix the dough. Then it picks up speed and you pause to watch the batter turn smoother. Then you notice that it's stopped churning, so curiosity gets the better of you again and you try to figure out if it's actually baking or not.

At the 40 minute mark, not much was happening, but another 20 minutes later, the dough was rising! Progress! It seemed to have baked really well by the time the cycle was over, but I gave it an extra 15 minutes.

The verdict? Awesome texture, it's not oily like traditional banana bread, but it's surprisingly bland. I seem to recall having the same problem with another breadmaker banana bread recipe somewhere back in the sands of LJ time. Other users suggested adding vanilla or apple sauce instead of sugar. I might give that a shot sometime!

Comments

[frith]

I tried banana bread a few times. Very bland. I tried putting LOTS of banana. Still bland. I went back to orange poppyseed, flax and sesame seed. (Secret to sesame: used only previously roasted sesame seeds. I bum mine for free from a bagel "factory".)

Take your bread machine to work. Provide the butter and jam. Promote harmony.

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

It's insane how much bread we go through at work. We love our toast. For the first six months that we had toast, we went through 200 loaves!

I may try riper bananas next time. I used 2 whole bananas - I wonder if it gets overmixed in the breadmaker?

[fozziewriter.livejournal.com]

They were so popular for awhile. Breadmaker's usual selling price at auctions.... $1.00. They don't go much higher than $5.00.

The vanilla and apple sauce ideas sound good. Still, I think nothings better than fresh baked bread, yummmmmmmy.

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

Oh geez, are they really that cheap? Man...nothing is worth anything anymore ;-)

Yeah, I was thinking one could mix it up a little with peach applesauce or something else. Hmmm!

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

My mom says that the best banana bread is made with bananas that are over-ripe to the point of being on the edge of rotten. If the bananas weren't ripe enough, that may have been the reason for the blandness.

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, yes. The bananas were freckled and a little bruised and ripe for my personal taste, but they certainly weren't black. I'll have to try that next time. Once you heaped Nutella or peanut butter on it, the taste certainly improved :-) I also discovered that it crumbles the next day, so I'll have to slice it earlier.