Time to Make Some Dough

There are more dead nananas waiting to be made into some delicious bread, so after this post I shall head on over to the kitchen. However, should anyone else be interested in making some dough, here's my favorite recipe:

• 1 stick of butter (please, for the love of good bread, use the REAL stuff - can be salted or unsalted, I prefer salted)
• 1 cup sugar (may use Splenda or other sugar subs)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 VERY brown bananas (can use up to 5 for a single batch if small, if they are LARGE bananas and if you have 5 or more, make 2 loaves! Also, bananas don't HAVE to be brown, but they sure make for better bread. I've even used bananas that were almost liquidity! Sounds gross, but the bread was sooooo goood.)
• 2 cups of flour (I always use the regular bleached white stuff, but for those of you who prefer it wheatier, go for it - can use any combo of white and wheat flour as long as it equals about 2 cups of flour total - the more flour you add the more cake-like it will be.)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional:

• Nuts - I always just dump in a bunch and stir, if it looks like too few nuts I add more. I guess a good rule of thumb would be 1-2 cups. I've used walnuts, Macadamia nuts, cashews, pine nuts, basically whatever I have had on hand. They all taste good, just depends on your preference. I find walnuts and Macadamia nuts to be the best - nice and crunchy, where as pine nuts and cashews tend to be softer and provide a different taste texture altogether. Can be whole nuts or you can chop em' up - again, personal preference.
• Craisins - same as above - depends on how many you feel like.
• Raisins - same as above, above.
• Chocolate chips - ditto - white, milk or dark chocolate - or any combo thereof, it's all good!
• Lemon and/or Orange zest or dried orange peel - 1/4 cup should do, depending on how strong ya like it.
• Whatever else you feel might add a bit o' fun to the dough.
• Keep in mind if you add almond extract or some other type of liquid the dough might need some extra flour added to capture the right consistency. Dough should be thick and sticky, if it seems runny keep adding a little flour until it's the texture of brownie or cake batter. THIS IS NOT an exact science - it's FUN. You really can't screw up bread so turn up the tunes and get dirty in the kitchen.

If you're OCD like me:

• get all your ingredients together first to make sure you have everything you need
• as you use it, put it back where it belongs - this way you know you've added it to the batter and don't have to wonder... did I put the _____ in?

I hate dishes, so I use as few of them as possible, so this is the order I go by:

1. melt butter so it's SOFT - not a liquid!
2. add sugar and mix with hand mixer
3. add bananas, mix until well blended
4. add eggs and vanilla, mix
5. add flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon - mix until well blended
6. stir in any extras - nuts, craisins, whatever

Finally when you place the pan(s) in the oven, clean up is a breeze since everything should already be put away except for the dirty spoons, spatula, mixing bowl(s), etc!

Bake at 325 for 70 minutes in a greased pan.

Top should be nice and brown and may split. If you poke a toothpick in the split section it may come out gooey, so check other parts of the bread. If they come out clean your dough is done.

Let cool in pan for a 10-15 minutes, then dump bread out onto a wire rack (as shown above) to further cool. If you try to slice it before it has completely cooled it will crumble.

Note: If making 2 loaves, and unless you have a HUGE mixing bowl, make the 2 batches side by side in at least a 2-quart size bowls.