Book: I am still on Dan Ariely’s “The Upside of Irrationality”. It’s interesting…. but I still don’t see an upside. His last experiment was basically about how we should break up our activities that we derive pleasure from (like read a book, hobbies, etc.) and just plow through those activities that we find annoying (like doing taxes). Why? Because our brains always adapt. If we get a brand new car, yeah it’s great for a little while and most people go to the next best thing. We adapt and get used to the things that are new or fun to us. But if we break these moments up, then we will not get used to them and we will enjoy them more. On the flip side, just get your taxes done and don’t break it up. 🙂 It’s April 15th soon!
Recipe: This bread rocks! I do like banana bread. But, I thought it would be fun to try and make something new out of those overripe bananas. We have had our share of super yummy banana bread here on Whisk Together.
This yeast bread allows you to make THE BEST French toast. Use it with your favorite french toast recipe, or a casserole, add some walnuts or pecans and you are in heaven. Or, use the bread to make a super awesome peanut butter sandwich which will give you a hint of banana with your peanut butter. Or just eat it plain. Or add some nutella. It’s a delicious way to get rid of some extra bananas.
You can make this in the bread machine or by hand. I’ve done it both ways and the bread machine on the dough cycle does make less of a mess. Making this by hand is perfectly acceptable and tasty too though.
If you freeze your leftover bananas like I do, simply thaw them for an hour or so before making the recipe. Since yeast is involved, I would even warm them up just a bit in the microwave so that the frozen cold banana doesn’t inhibit the yeast.
- ¾ cup lukewarm milk
- 3 cups (12.75 oz) bread flour
- 2 Tb. butter, room temperature
- 2 and ¼ tsp. instant yeast (1 packet)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 Tb. honey
- 1-2 medium bananas (3/4 cup), cut into chunks
- To make in the bread machine: add ingredients per the machine's directions. My machine wants liquids first and then dry stuff piled up in the middle on top. Then, poke a hole in the middle of the mountain of flour and pour the yeast into there. Start the Dough Cycle or Select the Medium Crust cycle to mix and bake in one machine. While mixing, watch through the window to determine if it needs more flour. Mine needed about ¼ cup more flour. The dough is soft. You will know because the dough ball will look wet and not pull away from the sides of the bowl. Then bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Tent with foil maybe halfway through to prevent the top from getting to brown
- To make by hand: In a great big bowl, mix everything together. Knead by hand for 10 minutes or mixer with the bread dough hook for 5 minutes. Put into a greased bowl for 1 hour covered.
- After the first rise, shape the dough into a log and place into a greased loaf pan (8.5"x4.5" preferable, but doable in a 9x5"). Cover the pan and rise another 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Add foil to the top about halfway through baking to keep the top from getting to brown.
