Saturday, April 5, 2008

Banana Bread at midnight

Alright. Cookies turned into banana bread when I got into the kitchen and took stock of what I had to work with. I'm just posting this because it's late, and it's entirely probable that I won't remember what I did with the bread batter. It smells like it's going to be fab.

Chocolate banana bread, version... seven? Eight?

5 bananas of varying sizes and degrees of leprosy, mashed into goo (perhaps 2 or so cups worth of mushed-up monkey bait)
1 generous cup of white sugar. Superfine (caster sugar) is my stand-by type
2 eggs
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temp, or give it a little radiation-burn in the micro
scant 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean powder
2 tsps. chocolate extract
generous pour Kahlua (actually, you get the generous pour... the batter gets a Tbsp.)
1 and 1/2 tsp lemon juice, plus milk to equal 1/2 cup (best to start this process before you smash the bananas... it needs to 'work' a bit)
Blend very well.

In another piece of crockery, sift together:
2 and 1/2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda, rounded up a bit
1/2 tsp baking powder (for historical purposes only. I suspect it does nothing to alter the bread's chemistry in this application.)
whatever is left in the tin of Scharffen Berger cocoa powder (unsweetened, naturally)... I suspect it was in the neighborhood of 1/4 to 1/3 cup. Enough to impart a bit of color, and the perfume.

Fold the dry into the wet, adding a touch more flour if required. Batter will be fairly moist. I added an extra 1/3 cup of flour, probably owing to the added liquor (in the batter, not in me).
From this recipe I got 12 muffins and 1 loaf of bread. I usually do it this way because
1.) muffins bake way faster, and
2.) big loaves of bread are too easy to overbake.

Cool 10 to 15 minutes in pan (for the muffins) and tip out... if you remembered to 'Pam' the super-duty, aluminum Martha Stewart muffin tin you bought at K-Mart four years ago (and were shockingly amazed at how beautifully it works, because you detest those damnable paper wrapper thingies) the muffins just zip right out. Really. It's the best Martha product ever. Ev. Er. Period.

The baking info: floor of the AGA's baking oven, which is similar to a 325-350 range, only without the annoying temp fluctuations a regular oven has. If I had to pick, go with the 350 degrees of heat, for about 20-25 minutes on the muffins, an hour-ish for the loaf (start checking at 45 mins., but it'll take way longer if you actually pay it attention... almost like the laws of physics stop applying.)

It's now nearly 1:30 a.m. (I began this quite awhile ago... the loaf of bread is still baking, though) and I'm pooped. Type at you later. C

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it was extremely yummy.

Anonymous said...

I have never tried adding chocolate to banana bread,but it sounds wonderful! Thanks for the recipe!