"Roasted" Bananas Banana Bread, Recipe rewind, because some things are too good to miss!

Recipe rewind, because in the beginning there is a blogger who has no readers. She still posts great food in hopes that the readers will come..........you can also view it here in the archives, Wednesday November 4, 2009. But it is better here......

My travels to the blogs of the world, have reveled a new take on banana bread. Banana bread is not new of course, banana bread is a routine offering on any blog. It seems every home has bananas that become banana bread worthy or ripe to the point that banana bread is the only option. I routinely have bananas that must be used, and have actually share that here. Through the years, I have worked the same recipe and changed it somewhat as whim dictates or ingredients were available and sometimes not available. Those favorite recipes are the best. You are completely at ease to change, modify and recreate.

When I first spotted the Roasted banana and Browned Butter bread on foodgawker, I took the side road to the blog and noticed the bananas were oven roasted in their skins. When it was time for me to bake, I did just that. These bananas were roasted at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. The house smelled wonderful, just like baking banana bread. I was happy, thinking that I had roasted banana in those skins ready to bake with.

When the bananas cooled enough to be handled, I snipped off the ends and let the bananas slide out into this keeper dish. Disappointment was immediate. The skins had roasted, the banana had not. The pan of roasted bananas makes a good photo opportunity, but you do not get roasted bananas.

Here is my banana bread recipe. It is slightly adapted from the banana bread recipe in The Wooden Spoon Bread Book, by Marilyn M Moore. This recipe has been made in my kitchen, many many times. You can tell, because the page has dried spots that have wrinkled into little hills and valleys, plus it has writing where I have reworked the ingredients to my liking.

The first step was to pan roast the bananas, I started by substituting butter for the oil. I let it melt and added the bananas.

The bananas browned gently while the butter turned a golden brown. It is simple, let one side brown, turn gently, brown and repeat until all sides are a deep golden brown. There is a lot of moisture in bananas, to brown will take a fair amount of time, the butter also browns in the process. 

"Roasted" banana bread

3 ripe bananas

1/2 c butter

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c milk + 2 T if needed

1 c whole wheat flour ( I prefer White Whole Wheat flour)

1 c unbleached all purpose flour

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/2 c walnut pieces

Melt the butter in a large skillet, add sliced (or chunks) bananas. Saute until the bananas are soft and a deep golden brown. Remove pan from heat source and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Set aside. 

In a medium size bowl, add eggs and sugar. Beat well, add vanilla, the 1/2 c milk and banana mixture (use a silicone scraper to get all the banana goodness from the pan). Beat well.

Combine wet and dry ingredients. If the mixture seems too stiff, add the additional 2 T of milk to make it moist and easy to work with. Turn dough into prepared pan, top with walnut pieces.

Bake 350 degrees, 45 minutes or until tests done in your oven. Let cool in pan 15 minutes, turn out and let cool completely.

Makes 1 loaf.

As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop and say hello.

I appreciate your time and your comments. 

key words:  roasted, bananas, quick bread