Banana Bread

[livingdeb]

I had brunch with Robin and JA this morning and then just did stuff around the house.

Like make banana nut bread. I keep forgetting how easy this is to make. For example, it doesn't require any baking powder, which always solidifies into something I have to scrape at to get a usable amount. My recipe requires only baking soda (and eggs) for rising. Here's how I make it nowadays.

Banana Nut Bread

3 (or 4) ripe or overripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash bananas in large bowl. Add sugar, oil, and eggs and mix well. Add flour, oatmeal, and baking soda to form a little mountain on top of the gooey ingredients. Chop the nuts if they aren't chopped yet.

Then mix the dry ingredients somewhat as they rest on top of the gooey ingredients. Then add a "drop" of milk (I think of it as more of a splash of milk and I guess it's about a tablespoon) and stir. When it's starting to get well mixed, add the nuts and finish mixing.

Coat the inside of a loaf pan with oil and pour in the batter. Bake for one hour or until a fork stabbed into the top near the center comes out dry.

I use whatever sugar is handy, walnut oil, whole wheat pastry flour, walnuts and store-brand PAM made with olive oil. (Because olives go good with banana bread.) All but the sugar are supposed to be semi-healthy equivalents to the usual. And I don't know why, but it's cheaper for me to get walnut halves than walnut pieces, so I chop them myself. (Note to D: You're supposed to wait until the last second to mix the wet and dry ingredients, which activates the baking soda, so you can put it in the oven shortly thereafter.)

There's none of that business of trying to get butter at just the right temperature to mix it with the sugar (without melting the butter, which is cheating, I mean which destroys the air bubbles). No scraping at the baking powder. And at the end, I only have to wash one bowl, two forks, two measuring cups, a measuring spoon, a rubber spatula, a knife, a cutting board, and a bread pan. Oh, and it's yummy.

My sister prefers to substitute chocolate chips for the nuts. When she is offering me banana bread I do not refuse. But if I am eating the whole thing myself, I'll try to pretend it's healthy.

I guess you know what banana bread looks like, but here's a picture. I'm a little paranoid about stuff being raw in the middle, so I tend to err toward burning it. But this one looks okay.



I can't make any more slices yet until it cools more because it's too crumbly.

Comments

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

The recipe looks very interesting, particularly your use of walnut oil. That probably adds a whole different flavor to the mix. As for the burniness, I tend to do the same thing when baking quick breads, because I like darkly browned baked goods.

[sallini.livejournal.com]

Darkly browned baked goods is of Satan. Just sayin'.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I just use walnut oil because that's my current vegetable oil of choice. The original recipe was for butter, but I substitute oil whenever possible because I don't like working with butter and because butter has saturated fat.

What kind of evil?

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Evil for being tempting or evil for having ruined bread that was perfectly good a few minutes earlier?

Re: What kind of evil?

[sallini.livejournal.com]

Ah, that was an ambiguous statement - I meant evil in terms of ruining a thing of wonder and delight by making it overly cooked. I prefer my baked goods at the point where they are just now not raw. I don't care for that "browned" flavor in bread.

I like walnut oil in salad, but I have never used it for cooking - I had heard that heat ruins the flavor. (And given the relatively high price of walnut oil, I figure canola oil is reasonable for baking...to the degree that I bake with oil at all.)

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

Well, if livingdeb can use it, so can I - thanks for inspiring me to try it (or another, non-olive, non-canola oil). Where do you recommend buying it? WF? SH? The HEB?

baking with walnut oil

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I was excited about baking with walnut oil, but you bring up a possible caveat - heat. I checked online and found this, which says that walnut oil is good for baking, and doesn't mention any negatives, but then, this is just an overview kind of entry. http://life.familyeducation.com/foods/nutrition/36579.html

I found a recipe for a yeast-risen walnut bread which uses walnut oil, so that's a positive.

Another link lists oils and what uses they're best suited for: http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CookingOilTypes.htm
Walnut oil comes up as a fit for "Saute, pan fry, sear, deep fry, stir fry, grill, broil" ["ing" those]. This site also gives the smoke point, and that of walnut oil is 400F/204C; don't know that this correlates with taste changes at all, but at least it has a comparable or higher temperature threshold than some other commonly used oils, high enough for baking, anyway.

Re: baking with walnut oil

[sallini.livejournal.com]

I'm no kind of expert on this, but from what I understand, baking with walnut oil (at 350 degrees) is safe. It's just a matter of whether the heat affects the delicate flavor, and I had heard that heat negatively impacts the flavor.

A quick search found references like this one (on the site you linked to)
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/WalnutOil.htm - "Walnut oil is best used uncooked or in cold sauces because when it is heated, it can become slightly bitter."

Or Wikipedia's comment - "Although sometimes used for pan frying, most chefs do not use walnut oil for high temperature cooking, as heating can remove some of the oil's flavour and produce a slight bitterness; instead it is used primarily as an ingredient in cold dishes such as salad dressings, where its flavour more easily comes through. In addition, the antioxidants present in the oil are easily destroyed in cooking."

But if LivingDeb didn't notice anything wrong with her loaf, I'm sure it's fine. For me, it then comes down to whether the walnut oil is better enough to justify its higher cost compared to other veg oils.

Clearly an experiment is called for. :)

Re: baking with walnut oil

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

Cost is definitely an issue. And experimentation is most certainly necessary!

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I get it at Wheatsville, but I finally saw it someplace else, too. I forget where.

Re: What kind of evil?

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

If you are ever stuck eating overbrowned bread of mine, I will not consider it impolite of you to eat only the yummy interior.

Re: baking with walnut oil

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Um, I might be the opposite of a foodie. I haven't noticed much difference in flavors between oils; I find them basically flavorless. So I am completely untrustworthy on that topic. I didn't notice any bitterness, but then I put a bunch of actual walnuts in there, which I've always thought were more bitter than pecans, and which I have decided to just eat anyway.

Yes, canola oil is much cheaper. But I think walnut oil is cheaper than olive oil. Certainly it's cheaper than extra-virgin olive oil or whatever you're supposed to get. Also, it stays liquid in the refrigerator, unlike olive oil. And Robin says that canola oil isn't as healthy as it sounds like it should be given the percentages of fats that are saturated/unsaturated/monounsaturated and polyunsaturated or whatever. And he's not happy with corn oil either. I just use one kind of oil for everything.

Re: baking with walnut oil

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

I shall have to visit Wheatsville. Was at WF@Arboretum today and there was no walnut oil to be had.

walnut oil comparison shopping

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

I found the walnut oil today at Central Market (8oz for $3.99, Hain is the brand). Then I went to Sun Harvest, and found it there, too - same brand and size, for only $3.39.

In case anyone's wondering, Bragg's Amino seasoning (the huge bottle) is almost the same price at both CM And SH.

Check!

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

I made the bread and love it! It really is different from other BBs I have had/made before. I like the oats (I used 'quick-cooking' oats so they were a little smaller than just old-fashioned 'rolled' oats). It's quite sweet but not overwhelmingly so, and the oiliness is just right. The crust comes out darker than other quick breads I've made, possibly owing to the lower burning point of the walnut oil, but I notice no bitter taste at all. One should keep in mind that when baking at a given temperature, the majority of the baked good doesn't even get close to that temp (the exterior and the parts touching the pan might approach it though).

Thanks again for sharing the recipe.

Re: walnut oil comparison shopping

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I got 16 ounces for $4.29 at Wheatsville in March (yea for keeping receipts!). Spectrum is the brand.

Re: Check!

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it!

And thanks so much for the review. It sounds like people like me (and definitely sallini) should cook with butter if we want to make sure the interior is cooked before the exterior gets too brown. Or just knowing that the crust will come out darker is good.

And I didn't even notice the oats making any difference in the texture. I guess they do. I like all grains fine, though (except maybe wild rice), so it doesn't matter.

Maybe you should try using less sugar next time so you'll like it more.

Re: walnut oil comparison shopping

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

Wow - what a score. Are you a member or is the $4.29 a non-member price?

Re: walnut oil comparison shopping

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I'm a member. Even with the extra 7? percent, it sounds like a deal.

Re: walnut oil comparison shopping

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

You're right. I've never looked into membership there; maybe I should.