Friday, January 13, 2012

Le Banana Bread

I have a Le Cordon Bleu cake book which contains a fab banana bread recipe. I've cooked it several times before and amend the recipe each time depending on dietary requirements or mood. For example I've made this recipe before using wholemeal flour and by reducing the sugar and even amount of bananas. Remember, the more bananas in the mixture, the more moist the bread will be.

Today I had three large dodgy bananas (I usually use two or three small ones) to get rid of which will give me maximum moisture! They don't look great, but the bread will taste great and the outcome is all I care about. I've been wanting to start cooking with rice flour and because I haven't baked with it  before, I will be using half rice and half plain flour. Plus I will reduce the sugar significantly from the original recipe, as I minimise it wherever I can and always substitute white sugar for brown. The more natural and unprocessed, the better.


Angie's Le Banana Bread
15mins prep, approx. 50mins cooking, yield is 1 medium size loaf, place in airtight container and in the fridge for storage

160g unsalted butter at room temperature
150g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
125g plain flour
125g rice flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 ripe bananas mashed
  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
  2. Grease and flour the loaf tin.
  3. Sift the plain flour, rice flour, baking powder and nutmeg into a bowl.
  4. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer. Add the eggs one at a time. Then add the mashed banana and mix well, followed by slowly adding the flour mixture and mix until smooth.
  5. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin. Bake in the oven for approx. 50 mins. You'll know the bread is ready when you insert a skewer into the centre and it comes out clean.
  6. Take out of the oven and leave to cool for 5-10 mins, before taking out of the tin. Enjoy!

6 comments:

  1. excellent idea! i also have 3 ripe bananas starring me in the face. i was going to make banana cake but i'll go with the bread instead. what's the difference? i guess u could toast this one and add butter to it? it might be less sweet as well. i'm going to make this today, so i'll let u know. thanks for the recipe!
    xx

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    Replies
    1. Not sure what the difference is between banana bread and cake...your idea sounds reasonable so let's go with that! The bread does toast nicely and tastes great with a little butter. Are the bananas small or large? If large, go with using two. I discovered there is such a thing as too much moisture!

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  2. Hi Angie,

    I too have used the recipe from 'Le Cordon Bleu' for a fantastic banana bread, but have misplaced my recipe is there any chance you could supply the original??? Very eager to hear from you.

    Liz

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  3. Hi Liz,

    Thanks for getting in touch! So happy to see someone is reading my blog :) and very happy to supply the recipe. The original (below) comes out great. Enjoy!

    NB: I recommend using three small-medium bananas.

    Cheers
    Angie

    (C) Le Cordon Bleu 1998 - Banana Bread

    Prep time 20 mins
    Total cooking time 45 mins
    Serves 6-8

    250g plain flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    160g unsalted butter, at room temperature
    230g soft light brown sugar
    2 eggs
    3 ripe bananas, mashed

    1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Grease and flour a loaf tin, about 23 x 13 x 6 cm.
    2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together and add the eggs one at a time. Add the mashed banana and mix until well combined. Add the sifted flour and mix until smooth.
    3. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the upper half of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the top is coloured and the sides are beginning to pull away from the pan. Cover the top of the cake loosely with foil if it starts to darken too quickly. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
    4. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling on a wire rack.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Angie Pangie you're a gem!!!

      I can't wait to cook me up some banana bread mmm mmm ;)

      Cheers, Liz.

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    2. Hi Liz,

      Can't wait to hear how it turns out, please let me know!

      Cheers
      Angie

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