Banana Feather Loaf

January 1, 2015

I get along with bananas like a house on fire. So it’s natural that I would choose, for my first Bread Bible post, the Banana Feather Loaf to compliment the Banana Split Chiffon. I think it’s interesting to explore all the different ways bananas can be used and adapted to suit different applications. Maybe we should whip up a little Banana Lemon Curd, and mix up a Banana Daiquiri and serve up these two very different banana things and have a banana party and call it The Banana Bomba!

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Ingredients

Volume Grams Ounces

Instructions

DOUGH STARTER

This is a very straightforward process and couldn’t be easier.

MAKE THE SPONGE

Adding the flour blanket over the sponge is another very simple step in the process of making bread.

ADDING THE BANANA! TO THE BREAD DOUGH

After the sponge has set for a few hours, it’s time to add the banana. Yeah. I mashed it with the soft butter and salt beforehand just to ensure that they would mix properly.

Adding the banana and butter to the blanket.

MIXING THE DOUGH BY HAND

This was too sticky to knead by hand. I had to add a conferrable amount of flour because it was impossible to otherwise. If I had used the machine, it wouldn’t have cared, but manoeuvring around my bread bowl with this sticky mess wasn’t enjoyable.

Still, I was committed, so I did my best. Letting the dough rest for 20 minutes changed the mood of the dough and afterwards, it was a charm to work with.

I let it rise until double.

And, then made two business folds.

And, let it rise again. It took much longer and by this time, it was too late to shape it and let it rise again, So I stuck it in the refrigerator and went to bed.
8am the next morning, I took it out of the cold box, shaped it into a loaf and let it rise. Again, it took forever so I went dancing. I got home at 4pm and the bread had reached the top of the mold. That’s a long-time proofing.

So I fired up the jets to 475F. That’s a super hot oven.

BAKING THE BREAD

Baking it, it sank a little. Huh? I suspect I over-rose it. Is that possible? Maybe the chemical reaction was completely gone and the structure of the bread collapsed a little. I was a little disappointed.
Tasting it, it certainly tasted a bit on the sour side. Can’t complain because I let it lay around so long. The banana flavour was very faint, but the bread was moist and very pleasant.

WHAT ARE THE ALPHA BAKERS? : Here’s how it works: once a month, for the next two years, 25 Alpha Bakers commit to baking their way through every recipe of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. Each month we post our experiences on our blog sites: our successes, our failures, our likes and dislikes. The recipes are scheduled in advance so that everyone is baking the same recipe at the same time. No recipes can be shared in my Alpha Bakers Bread Bible posts due to publishing restrictions enforced by the publisher, but if you love to bake bread, this is a must-have book. You can see other tutorials for the same recipe at the following link The Bread Bible Alpha Bakers at http://breadbiblealphabakers.blogspot.ca/