Quick Banana Bread

I originally published this recipe to the Internet on March 16, 2007

This is my basic recipe for banana bread. I almost always fancy it up a bit with additions such as vanilla, cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, grated orange peel, chopped nuts, raisins, dried blueberries, shredded coconut or whatever I have on hand that sounds good. Be creative.

• 1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2-3 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups flour (I use 1 cup of whole wheat plus 3/4 cup of all purpose white.)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 very ripe bananas (1 1/2 cups mashed)

Cream butter and sugar together. Stir in eggs one at a time. Add the mashed bananas and continue mixing well. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt and add to the creamed banana mixture, mixing well.

At this point you can fold in any additional ingredients, such as chopped nuts.

Pour into a greased and floured* 9″ x 5″ loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 50-60 minutes, until the top is chestnut brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake rest in the pan for five minutes, and then run a knife around the edge and remove to cool. Serves eight generously.

*I usually do not use flour for this step, but spinkle the oiled pan with granulated sugar instead.

Delicious Irish Soda Bread

One year, I resolved to make Irish Soda Bread for Saint Patrick's Day, but before I got it made, Easter had arrived. This bread actually tasted a lot better than it looks in the photograph, and it sliced beautifully. Oh, was it ever easy!

I cannot remember if I ever made this before, so I went to my favorite on-line Recipe Book - Elise's and sure enough she had a nicely illustrated recipe. Then I got to pondering myself: "how authentic would it be to use a recipe from a Californian?" So off I went seeking something a bit more authentic, ... meaning Irish. The first I found claimed to be the "world authority" for "authentic" Irish Soda Bread. All I could find at that site, besides the pop up ads, were warnings of what ingredients NOT to use. No nuts! No raisins or even currants! No orange rind! No sugar, honey or treacle! What's treacle? No eggs! No shortening! No whiskey! NO Whiskey?? And, ... if you dare to use any of those forbidden ingredients  - you will be making CAKE  not bread!  So there! Since I never did find Any recipe at all, I got bored and a bit rankled. Let them eat soda bread! I tried another Irish site, and it was the opposite -- too many recipes using too many ingredients, most of which I did not have on hand, especially the hot peppers. And again it was so full of advertising that I felt myself in a maze. So it was back to Ms. California Elise's and I kinda followed her instructions and all went well. Of course, as always, I improvised. I halved her recipe and since I didn't feel like hunting to see if I had any pastry flour, I just used what was in the flour bin. I used table cream with vinegar instead of sour milk. I used a whole egg, instead of a half, since I halved the recipe. Yes, I used the sugar, even though the Irish site said it was verboten. And just to be extremely devilish, I tossed in some freshly grated orange rind. I think that made the bread extra tasty. HA! Next time I go for the whiskey. After-all, it is IRISH bread, isn't it?

I cooked it in a Corning ware dish instead of cast iron and used a much lower temperature - 325 degrees, as I was in no hurry, and I didn't want it to come out as brown as the one in Elise's picture. Here's Elise's recipe: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004338irish_soda_bread.php

 The image, Irish Soda Bread, was originally uploaded by barneykin. It is posted here from Barneykin's account. Visit Neddy's Archives for more of Edna's writings.