Banana Tea Bread

This recipe was handed down to me from my Mom from her mom, so this is a family recipe. I've eaten this banana bread more than any other in my life. It's not my favorite banana bread but it is a food of my childhood and my Mom's.

Banana Tea Bread

1¾ cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

⅓ cup butter

⅔ cup sugar

2 eggs, well-beaten

1 cup mashed ripe banana

Preheat oven to 350°.
Cream the butter and sugar. 
Add the eggs. 
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
 Add the flour mixture alternately with the bananas, a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth.
Pour into a well-greased and floured loaf pan (9x5x3-inches).
Bake for an hour.

Sweet Roll Dough

This is a recipe that I grew up eating. Whenever my Mom wanted rolls, she made this. When she wanted to make pizza, she used this. She even made regular ole loaves of bread from this. I know my Mom got this recipe from my Grandmother. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I've got my Grandmother's and my Great Grandmother's recipes (actually I even have some from my Great Great Grandmother!), and there's no indication that it goes as far back as them. Either way it is for sure a family recipe! And in that family tradition, I made these for Thanksgiving just like my Mom always did!

Sweet Roll Dough

1 pkg yeast

¼ cup warm water (105-115°)

¼ cup lukewarm milk (scaled & cooled)

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

1 egg

¼ cup butter, softened

2¼ - 2½ cup flour

 

Dissolve yeast in warm water.
Stir in milk, sugar, salt, egg, shortening, and l cup flour.
Beat until smooth.
Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
Turn dough onto lightly floured board.
Knead until smooth & elastic about 5 min.
Place in greased bowl: turn greased side up.
Cover, let rise in warm place until double, about 1½ hours (dough is ready if impression remains when touched.)
Punch down dough.
Shape as desired.
Cook rolls at 350° for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Banana Bread with Cinnamon Swirl

I was looking at the bananas on my counter and wanting to do something with them, but it's fall and time for pumpkin. So I googled recipes with both bananas and pumpkin and found this recipe from the Kitchen Snob. Her made only one loaf and I wanted two, so I doubled hers. She also glazed her bread, but I didn't want a glaze on mine, so I did alter it a bit. It has a lot of cinnamon

Here is in doubled form!

Pumpkin Banana Bread with Cinnamon Swirl

3 ½ cup flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
¾ teaspoon allspice 
¾ teaspoon ground cloves
2 pinches of cardamom
4 eggs, room temperature
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canola oil 
⅔ cup water
2 very ripe banana, peeled and mashed

Cinnamon Swirl

½ cup granulated sugar 
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350° and grease 2 9x5 loaf pans.
In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt.
Add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cardamom to flour mixture and whisk together until blended. Set aside.
In small bowl, mix cinnamon swirl mixture and set aside.
In large bowl, beat together eggs, pumpkin, and banana.
Add both sugars and beat until blended.
Add vanilla, oil, and water and mix together.
Slowly add flour mixture and beat with electric beater until smooth.
Pour half of bread batter into the pan. Sprinkle cinnamon swirl mix over bread mixture. Try to get an even coating over the batter.
Pour remaining batter into the loaf pan, completely covering cinnamon swirl mixture.
Bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Banana Bread

I have tried about 8 different banana bread recipes. Ones that have coconut, macadamia nuts, barley flour, rice flour, oil, and shortening. This was the second recipe I tried, and it is the one I always go back too.  I love it as it is here or with chocolate chips thrown in or pecans.  You know I love pecans!

Banana Bread

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3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Here are some pictures are of my friend's from when he made the bread in Kazakhstan! I've never seen round banana bread before but why not!

Old-Fashioned Date-Nut Bread

One of my students brought me a mess of dates, and I didn't know what to do with it. I'm not such a big date eater, but I am a big bread eater. I researched date breads and found this one. I love it!! I especially love it with camembert cheese spread on it. The contrast between the bread and cheese is divine!! It's from Family Fun Magazine.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into half-inch pieces

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped, pitted dates

1 cup boiling water

1 large egg

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

9”-x-5” loaf pan, greased and floured

Place the butter, baking soda, and dates in a medium-size bowl. Pour the boiling water over them and let the mixture stand for 30 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Heat the oven to 350º.

In a large bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk to blend, then stir in the date mixture (after it has stood for the full 30 minutes).

In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and walnuts. Make a well in the dry mixture and add the date mixture. Stir the combined ingredients with a wooden spoon until evenly blended; do not beat.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spoon. Bake on the center oven rack until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and put it on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes, then remove the loaf from the pan and place it on the rack to finish cooling. Makes 10 servings.