Yes, that’s right. It’s a yeasted banana bread – yum! The mixture is quite soft and I decided to divide the bread machine mixture into muffin trays for the second rise and baking. They don’t look especially elegant but the taste was fantastic! The kids ate them like muffins (actually the grown-ups did too!), but without the lashings of extra sugar that muffins typically include. Carefully used, a little bit of sugar can go a long way.
The recipe is from The bread machine cookbook, but now that I’m a bit bolder about fiddling with recipes I added a few little twists of my own.
Strawberry banana bread
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mashed strawberries
1/2 cup mashed bananas
2 tablespoons butter or margerine
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
This makes one large loaf in a bread machine (usually around 1 kg/2 lbs). Place all ingredients into the bread pan in the order listed, then select a sweet bread setting. You can knead and bake in the bread machine from start to finish, or read on for a variation.
The recipe had a description attached: “This wonderful, light loaf has just the right hint of both strawberries and banana”. I didn’t feel like a ‘hint’ of strawberry and banana; I wanted a flavour hit! So instead of just mashing the fruit, I pureed the same amount. More flavour – check. Chunky bits – hmm, no chunky bits. Of course, if you don’t like chunky bits then puree is perfect… but I like chunky bits. Put the bread machine on the dough setting and get it started, checking after a few minutes that the flour is being incorporated properly. If not, scrape down the sides with a plastic spatula and if really necessary, add extra milk one tablespoon at a time. Don’t go overboard with extra liquid in this dough, as it is quite soft (the puree helps with that).
To add the extra dimension I was looking for I chopped up the leftover strawberries into, well, chunky bits. There was a large handful by the time I was finished. And since my daughter asked me to, I also got out the white chocolate chips.
I wanted to make these breads single-serve size (so I wouldn’t have to keep slicing up bread for the kiddies), so used four six-cup muffin trays. When the dough cycle finished, I turned the soft and beautifully scented dough onto a lightly floured surface and knocked it back a bit. Divide into two so those who like it smooth don’t have to eat chunky bits. Divide one half into 12 pieces, gently shape and place into the muffin pan. Now for the fun part.
With the second half, press it out a bit so there’s a flat surface to put the big handful of chunky strawberry bits and the same again of white chocolate chips. Fold over the dough and knead ever-so-carefully so as to mix through the bits but not squash them too much. Divide into 12 pieces, gently shape and pop into the muffin pan. Usually at this point you should cover the bread with oiled cling wrap and leave in a warm spot to rise, but I had visitors and got distracted and it was winter, so I just put them in the oven with it barely on and left them there for an hour. They rose beautifully and were not crusty (lucky for me).
Preheat the oven to around 200°C (without the bread inside!). Mostly I don’t bother with glazes, but since there was only two teaspoons of sugar in the whole dough plus a few chocolate chips in each serve I thought it was worth a try. I dissolved a heaped teaspoon of sugar in about a third of a cup of water in a mug and microwaved it for a minute. I glazed the plain ‘muffins’ lightly and the chunky ones more generously. (Mental note: generosity is good!)
I don’t remember how long they baked, but it wasn’t very long. Once they are a gorgeous golden brown on top it’s time to take them out. Let them cool on a wire rack and try to keep cheeky fingers away.
The kids and grown-ups declared these a huge success, and I suspect they will be making a return appearance for school lunch-boxes very soon. The sugar glaze was fantastic for adding an extra flavour kick. It was true to the description of a “‘wonderful, light loaf”. It had a tinge of pink throughout and the chunky bits were scrumptious.
In good bread machine cookbook style, the recipe also comes with 1 lb/500 gm and 1.5 lb/750 gm quanitites. If you’re interested in the details, drop me a note and I’ll post them too.
