I’ve been getting a bit tired of my low-fat orange-nutmeg muffin experiments. A girl can only make and eat so many muffins before getting sick of them, especially when low-fat baking so often results in a bizarre bounciness of crumb (that’d be rubber if you’re nasty). I am definitely beginning to appreciate the work of all those professional bakers who have produced usable books on low-fat baking, because it’s not as easy at it seems, especially if you have standards like wanting your product to taste good in its own right, not just “good for a low-fat recipe”. There’s no reason to give up quality when trying to make stuff that is less bad for you, right?
So I turned my nutmeg-crusted Microplane towards the blogosphere. Lo and behold, that clever rock and roll gal from Combustication had just posted about banana oat bread, and the familiar sight (and smell) of bananas fragrantly expiring on my counter meant that I just couldn’t help myself but copycat it. And hey, it just happens to be low-fat, to boot.
I have to say, though, in looking at my recipe index, it seems I ought to make a little departure from banana-based baked goods (stop buying bananas!), before they get out of hand…so this will be the last one I blog about for a while.
I did make a few small changes, because, yes, I am one of those people who can’t help but fiddle a wee bit, unless expressly told not to. :) I added some spices and also found that it only needed about 1/4 cup of cane sugar rather than the original 3/4 cup mix of brown and white (but I am sensitive to sugar in breads, so you might like to use more). I also tossed in some toasted hazelnuts, which paired well with the bananas and made it a little heartier. Come to think of it, a teaspoon or so of espresso powder would be a great addition next time.
Banana Oat Bread
Adapted from an adaptation by Combustication
3 very ripe bananas
1 egg
1 egg white
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup safflower or other flavorless oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (do not substitute instant)
1/2 cup toasted, skinned, and chopped hazelnuts
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 8″ x 4″ or 9″ X 3″ loaf pan. Beat eggs and mix in sugar, yogurt, oil, vanilla, and applesauce. Mash the bananas with a fork and mix with the wet ingredients. Sift the flour, spices, and baking soda together in a separate bowl and add slowly add to the wet mixture. mixing just until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in oats and hazelnuts.
Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until the loaf is a golden brown and a tester in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then pop the bread out and cool completely on a baking rack.
This bread is nicely moist and will keep for a couple of days on the countertop, but it can also be frozen (and tastes great toasted).
That sounds [looks?] amazing. I’m definitely going to have to try this recipe out, as my last attempt at banana bread was disappointing.
And I fiddle around with my recipes all the time. :)
November 7th, 2007 at 2:23 pm