Bananas at market

By Cat, June 2010 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

Includes: 1. Sourdough Banana Bread Version I; 2. Version II; 3. Version III

See also: 1.  Banana Cake; 2. Mom’s Banana Nut Bread; 3. Bread & Rolls Menu; 4. Cakes, Tortes & Quick-Breads Menu

Banans are a favorite fruit of most children – perhaps because they are so sweet, or because they are fun to peel, or because of their unique flavor. They are the most nutritious when they are ‘just yellow’ with no black stripes/spots on them, and only a tiny amount of green near the stem. this is because at this stage, they are sweet but not overly sweet, because their sweet inulin fiber is still mostly intact and has not yet been broken down into fructose sugar. Inulin is an important food for the gut’s microbes (good bugs), which they break down into lactic acid rather than sugar.

So what to do with bananas that have become over-ripe (blackened)? Make banana bread of course.

Banana nut bread is perhaps my favorite quick bread, but I haven’t made it in a long time.  Instead, I make a banana nut cake using the pre-soaked flour method. I recently got a sourdough starter, and am learning how to use it. I found two sourdough versions to try, and adapted one of them to a true fermented sourdough, for 3 recipes; so far I’m still testing these.

Sourdough Banana Nut Bread

The first version – as a quick bread – is not the same as sourdough-leavened breads, because there is not enough of the starter used to leaven the bread, and because the dough is not allowed a long or overnight rest to ferment the grain. Instead, a small amount of starter is used to acidify the batter for a soda-rise, and to flavor the bread.

The second version is a true sourdough version of the first recipe, with an overnight sponge rest to ferment the grain.

The third version is also a true sourdough bread and doesn’t use any soda or baking soda at all.

Version I

As mentioned above, this is not a sourdough-leavened bread; it is a true quick bread that uses a bit of sourdough cast-off to acidify the batter and work with baking soda to leaven the bread.

I’ve adapted this recipe from on the Fresh Loaf: Sourdough Banana Bread (1), which in turn is from Don and Myrtle Holm’s Sourdough Cookbook in 1972. Makes 1 loaf (9” x 5”). This version does not take advantage of the acidic sourdough to ferment the flour overnight, but rather only for its ability to work with baking soda to leaven the bread.

Ingredients & Equipment:

• ⅓ cup butter
• ⅓ tsp stevia extract powder (½)*
• 2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup *
• 1 egg
• 2 -3 ripe bananas (1 cup mashed)
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 tsp real vanilla extract or 1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
• 2 cups sifted whole wheat flour or mix of whole grain and unbleached white flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp unrefined sea salt
• ¾ cup chopped walnuts (preferably pre-soaked and dried or toasted)

* or use 1 cup Rapadura sugar instead of the stevia and honey/maple syrup

Equipment

• small bowl
• 2 large bowls
• wooden spoon
• 9” x 5” loaf pan

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter and lightly flour baking pans (or line with parchment and lightly butter).
2. Cream together butter and sugar or honey/maple syrup; add egg and mix until blended. Stir in bananas and sourdough starter with orange zest or vanilla.
3. Sift flour(s) into a bowl. Remove about ¼ cup to a small bowl; add nuts and toss to dredge.
4. Measure 1 ¾ cups of the remaining sifted flour and sift again with stevia (if using), baking soda, baking powder and salt.
5. Stir dredged mixture into eggy mixture, then add flour mixture and stir just until blended.
6. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool on rack before slicing.

Testing

6/17/11: I ran out of time to bake this before lunch so I did this as an experiment – a partial ferment. For the flour I used ¼ cup spelt to dredge the nuts, and then a mix of ¾ cup spelt and ½ cup each oat and barley for the batter. I mixed up the batter with everything but about ¾ cup flour mix, soda, baking powder, salt and stevia.

Then at 1 PM, I covered the bowl for a rest while I went to lunch. Got home at 5 PM; it had risen some and was a bit bubbly. I folded in remaining dry ingredients. Batter is very fluffy and completely filled my bread pan. Baked 65 minutes, until tested clean with the toothpick. While baking, some spilled over the sides, and the loaf fell a bit, so if I do this again, I need to reduce the size of the recipe or get a larger bread pan. Or save some of the batter for muffins. And I might reduce the liquid or use coconut flour for the nut dredge, to absorb some extra liquid when using spelt flour.

The taste is good, but a bit too sweet. Next time I’ll reduce stevia to ⅓ tsp.

Version II

Makes 1 loaf (9 x 5 pan). Not yet tested

This version is based on the same recipe in The Fresh Loaf (1) as the above version, but makes a sponge with the sourdough starter and most of the flour, to rest overnight and ferment the flour. The next day you add the rest of the ingredients along with a bit of flour sifted with the baking soda for leavening.

The main issue I can see with this method (not yet tested) is that the sponge will rise like yeasted bread, which may or may not be a good thing.

If use mostly spelt flour, consider using ¼ cup coconut flour instead of ¼ cup spelt flour for dredging nuts, to absorb some of the liquid

Not yet tested.

Ingredients & Equipment:

Ferment

• 2 -3 ripe bananas (1 cup mashed)
• ⅓ cup butter
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 tsp real vanilla extract or 1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
• 1 ¾ cups sifted whole wheat flour or mix of whole grain flours

Next Day

• ⅓ – ½ tsp stevia extract powder *
• 2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup *
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup sifted unbleached white flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp unrefined sea salt
• ¾ cup chopped walnuts (preferably pre-soaked and dried or toasted)

* or use 1 cup Rapadura sugar instead of the stevia and honey/maple syrup

Equipment

• large bowl
• 2 small bowls
• 9” x 5” loaf

Method

Ferment:

1. Mash bananas, and cream in butter. Stir in starter and vanilla or zest, then stir in whole grain flour.
2. Cover with damp cloth and a plate and let rest overnight in a cool spot.

Next day:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter loaf pan.
2. Blend egg and sweetener(s).
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add nuts and toss to mix.
4. Stir egg mixture into ferment, then the flour mixture until just blended (don’t over-mix).
5. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake in preheated oven about 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean.

Not yet tested

Version III

Makes 1 loaf (9 x 5 pan). Not yet tested

This version is adapted from an interesting recipe from The Baking Sheet (2). This version is fermented and leavened by the sourdough – no baking soda/powder required. Nuts are not included in the original recipe, but they can certainly be added.

Ingredients & Equipment:

• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• pinch salt
• 1 Tbsp Rapadura sugar
• ⅛  tsp cinnamon
• splash of milk
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 ¼ cups flour
• ¾ cup chopped walnuts, optional (preferably pre-soaked and dried or toasted)
• large bowl
• loaf pan

Method

1. If using nuts, dredge them in ¼ cup of the flour.
2. Combine banana, salt, sugar, cinnamon in a bowl. Add starter and flour (and flour-dredged nuts, if using), and stir to mix.
3. Cover with damp cloth and let rise about 2 hours (or perhaps longer to double in size).
4. Knead the dough lightly and press into buttered loaf pan. Let rise another 2 hours, preheating oven to 450°F during last 30 minutes of rise.
5. Bake in preheated 450°F oven for 20 minutes.
6. Cool on rack.

Not yet tested

References

1. Fresh Loaf recipe, which in turn is from Don and Myrtle Holm’s Sourdough Cookbook in 1972 (thefreshloaf.com/recipes/sourdoughbananabread)
2. The Baking Sheet recipe (bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2005/03/experimenting-with-starter-sourdough.html)