Need Banana Bread & Poundcake recipes

[D.Shaffer]

I've had the classical recipe for pound cake (made it myself at a historical site as part of holiday festivities, actually). It's quite good! One slight change: it's a pound of eggs plus one (to account for the weight of the shells).

I've always been curious about the classic version. How does it taste/feel compared to more modern variants of the pound cake?

 

[freyar]

I've always been curious about the classic version. How does it taste/feel compared to more modern variants of the pound cake?

Hmm, it's been a while since I've had either variety of pound cake. I'd say they're roughly comparable, but the traditional recipe is a bit moister and heavier. As far as actual flavor goes, you can flavor as desired (IIRC, we used a tiny bit of lemon peel), so the flavor should match your taste. I'd say it's worth trying at least once if you don't have cholesterol problems, anyway.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

This is my recipe for banana bread. I bake a lot and I pretty much created this one from scratch. Nothing fancy here, just basic banana bread.

3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Add eggs, sugar, and oil. Beat together until mixed. Stir in vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and ground cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir, combining just until mixed. Do not overmix, as this will make the crumb of the banana bread overly chewy and unpleasant.

Pour batter into one greased 9" x 5" loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center of the bread comes out more or less without wet dough on it. This recipe was concocted at sea level...if you live at high altitude, this will affect cooking time.

 

[megamania]

Fru-

you are one of the most honorable family oriented people I know......



recipes look good. I may give one of these a try to surprise the wife.

 

[Pbartender]

I've had the classical recipe for pound cake (made it myself at a historical site as part of holiday festivities, actually). It's quite good! One slight change: it's a pound of eggs plus one (to account for the weight of the shells).

The other standard method is to begin with a number of eggs and weight them first (ignore the shells, they're not heavy enough to count). Then, measure all the other ingredients out to match by weight the weight of the eggs.

In other words, change the recipe to read "Measure equal parts by weight of butter, eggs, flour and sugar. Cream the butter with the sugar, then add eggs. Whip mixture until frothy. Slowly add flour and gently mix until ingredients are well combined. Flavor with a spoonful of rum, vanilla extract, lemon zest or grated orange peel. Pour into well greased pan and bake at 350F for a about an hour, or until golden brown on top."

Pound cakes are not easy to get right unless you cheat (many recipes add baking soda or baking powder for leavening, instead of whipping the butter-suger-egg mixture). If you under mix, the cake turns out flat and dense. If you over mix it can turn out chewy and tough.


Oh... And my own personal tip for banana bread... Use the ripest, spottiest, blackest bananas you can stand (though if they've got fruit flies, you've definitely gone too far ) -- the mushier the better. These extra-ripe, almost fermented bananas mix more smoothly into the batter and impart a much stronger banana flavor to the bread.

 

[megamania]

Oh... And my own personal tip for banana bread... Use the ripest, spottiest, blackest bananas you can stand (though if they've got fruit flies, you've definitely gone too far ) -- the mushier the better. These extra-ripe, almost fermented bananas mix more smoothly into the batter and impart a much stronger banana flavor to the bread.

I'll keep that in mind.....

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Fru-

you are one of the most honorable family oriented people I know......

Thanks Mega. I always do my best to keep the people in my life happy.

If they can be happy and spread it around, then its a start.

 

[xrpsuzi]

The trick to great banana bread--

take half the bananas in the recipe and mash lightly with a fork (so there are still chunks of banana). Then take the other half of the bananas and cream them with the sugar and then build the wet ingredients. After you mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, gently fold in the banana chunks and nuts (if any).

Moister bread, banana taste infused in every bite, and still get little banana pockets when you slice the bread.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

The trick to great banana bread--

<snip>

Thanks Suzi, I'll definetely keep that in mind.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

The trick to great banana bread--

take half the bananas in the recipe and mash lightly with a fork (so there are still chunks of banana). Then take the other half of the bananas and cream them with the sugar and then build the wet ingredients. After you mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, gently fold in the banana chunks and nuts (if any).

Moister bread, banana taste infused in every bite, and still get little banana pockets when you slice the bread.

Second this. Banana bread is much better with actual banana in each bite. Mashing bananas to a drivel makes for less tasty bread.