banana bread

I posted this picture on Instagram and my Aunt asked me if I had the recipe.  My favorite banana bread recipe is from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book.  I have been using it for over 30 years.  

I am going to write it down here for family but I do not modify it at all.  The modifications are when I wish to make a quick loaf with other fruits or vegetables.  This is my blueprint.  It is vegan if I wish.  It has minimal sugar.  It worked when I modified it for gluten free flours.  It is just one of those recipes.

I did not jump on the banana bread wagon during the stay at home orders.  Why?  Smoothies were what we wanted then.  Peanut butter and chocolate.  But for some reason autumn is one of those times that I do more quick breads.  

banana bread

Note:  So yes, this is my blueprint but I still change it to a different sugar, all whole wheat and a different leavening agent.  My Beloved would say I just cannot follow a recipe. I always have to change it.

3 tablespoons oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups super ripe bananas  (I usually use six.  Or two cups of other fruit combinations)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup  of additions (if you like addtions to banana bread like nuts, fruits, or choclate chips, not me)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Grease a large loaf pan

In a medium size bowl, mush the bananas.  Mix in the sugar, oil, vanilla and salt.  Mix in the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.  If you like additions, now mix them in.

Bake for about one hour.  I start checking at 45 minutes.  A knife should come out clean when it is poked into the bread.  This can be a dark bread if the bananas have a high sugar content.  The bread usually also recedes from the edge of the pan.

This bread is so good.  It is wonderful fresh but alos lovely toasted with butter.  I have pumpkin and applesauce in the refrigerator and thinking about making loaf.

Yes, I am putting this next update at the very end of my entry.  Not hiding that I am healing but definitly do not feel the broadcast.  I was working in the shop yesterday and an ax head flew at my face.  The video was watched to see what happened and the conclusion was that it was a perfect storm moment.  

I was very impressed with the public health hospital.  Ben Taub is the best trauma center in the city and I would have to agree.  Yes, there ER was very busy and there was a lot of waiting once they knew I was pretty okay.  But I felt well cared for, treated respectfully, and noticed that was how they treated every patient around me.  It was a much different experience then I have had at other hospitals.

After a CAT scan and stitches, I was able to come home.  It did take most of the day but they were also keeping me under observation in case of concussion.  There was a big sigh of relief when my skull was not fractured.  Yes, I laid in a hall for awhile but I never felt like I was unseen and I was checked on consistently.  

Stitches come out in about a week.  I will be wearing bandages for six weeks to protect the scar from the light to minimize it.  I will look strange until almost Thanksgiving.  I know this bandage is large but I am unwilling to buy extra until I am out.  There is no energy but also little pain currently.  I am told this is fairly normal for deep lacerations.  The itching is what might get me so keeping the wound moist and covered will help me not itch it.

It will heal.  I will heal.  I just have to take it slow.