Banana Nut Bread ~ Free & Easy Bake-Along Event #40

This is my very first post for year 2013. It has been a long time I didn’t update my blog, my apology. I shall blog more after this, hopefully *cross finger*. Well Lena, Joyce and Zoe, I’m back. I’m here to take part again in this Bake-Along event #40. For this challenge, we have to bake banana nut bread. It is actually a quick bread I would say.

I’m sure everyone loves banana. Banana contains lots of potassium, calcium, iron, vitamin C, B2, B6 and so on. This is the main ingredient in this recipe. My son mashed the bananas for me. He likes to help whenever I'm in the kitchen. Since he is able to read simple sentences, he even helps me to read the ingredient loud and clear. So I just asked him what ingredient I should get one and another.

Banana Nut Bread (The Williams Sonoma Baking Book)
makes one 9 by 5 inch loaf (I made 2 regular loafs)

95gm unsalted butter (Softened)
170gm sugar
280gm mashed bananas (It is ok if it gets browning)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
125ml buttermilk (I use milk)
2cups plain flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground nutmeg (I use cinnamon)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (My addition)
100gms walnuts (Chop coarsely)

Method:


1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 1 min.

3. Add the bananas and eggs and beat until smooth. Add the buttermilk and beat until just combined.

4. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and nuts. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat just until combined. The batter should be slightly lumpy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. It should be no more than two thirds full. Bake until the top is dark golden brown and dry to the touch, about 55-60minutes.

6. A cake tester inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Storage tip: Wrap the bread tightly in plastic wrapper and can be store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Walnuts are rich source of energy, minerals and omega-3. Definitely a good combination with bananas. I even toasted the nuts for a while. Then, use my both hands to crunch into small pieces. Let the nuts cool down before add into the batter.

Throughout the process, I found out that this quick banana bread recipe has a quite dense and lumpy batter. I'm afraid it would not bake and rise nicely. So I tell myself as long as I follow the recipe closely, it should be fine. From my experience, I try not to over mix the batter. So, I gradually use a spatula to stir with figure "8" mixing the flour and the walnuts.

Mine baked for about 60 minutes. Rise up gracefully and giving me a wide smile on my face (*_^).

Next, I have to cut through to check how is inside and lastly the taste. Like QA or QC inspector. LoL...

Here I'm submitting my bake ~ Banana Nut Bread to the host of Free & Easy Bake-Along #40: Zoe, Lena and Joyce. Their next theme is making turnovers...I'm still figuring out what to make. Before that, please do blog hop over to the rest of the bakers with the linky below to see their version of banana nut bread. Enjoy!