Banana Bread
The Z-Man....the Z-Meister....the Z-Dude.... His Royal Z-Ness....or just plain Zooz.
My recent guest sous-chef goes by all of these names and more, but for the purposes of his temporary assignment to the Oui, Chef kitchen, we shall simply call him..... Z-Chef!
Z-Chef, quite an accomplished young cook in his own right, joined me for a day of his recent summer vacation to roll up his sleeves and have a little fun in the kitchen. Also an aspiring actor, we thought it might be nice for him to make something that he could share with his Summer Stock acting brethren, you know, a little something to grease the wheels of his thespian experience. Much to the dismay of a group of colonizing fruit flies, the practically rotting pile of bananas on my counter shouted at us to put them out of their misery, et voila, we were presented with an ideal cooking project....Banana Bread.I have loved banana bread since I was a kid, to me it is second only to a top-notch cranberry-nut bread in the pantheon of sweet breads. After a long history of trials with different recipes, I settled on this one a few years ago, as it was far and away the best I’d ever had. It is moist, packed with banana flavor, and the inclusion of the toasted walnuts adds just the right contrast to the delicate crumb of the base bread.
With the exception of buttering and flouring the pans, and hauling the kitchen-aid from its perch in the pantry, Z-Chef pretty much flew solo when making this dish. From the mashing of the bananas (looked like his favorite part), to the gentle folding in of the dry ingredients, with just a little instruction, he managed the whole process. With his proven skills in the kitchen and on the stage, who knows, perhaps I just spent a day with a future TV Food Network Star! Nice Job Z.
Recipe:
Banana BreadAdapted from: Flour Bakery and Cafe
Ingredients:
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 1/3 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cups coarsely mashed very ripe bananas (about 6 large)
- 1/4 cup crème fraîche, greek style yoghurt, or sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/3 cups walnuts (4 ounces), toasted and chopped
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 (9- by 5- by 3-inch) metal loaf pans, then dust with flour, knocking out excess. This recipe actually makes about 2 1/2 loaves, so if you have a smaller loaf pan, butter and flour that as well, and make an additional mini-loaf.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.
- Beat together eggs and sugar in bowl of electric mixer with a whisk attachment at medium-high speed until very thick and pale, and the mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, mixing, then mix in bananas, crème fraîche, and vanilla. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in flour mixture and walnuts gently but thoroughly.
- Divide batter between loaf pans to about 2/3 full, spreading evenly, and bake in the lower third of the oven until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Start checking for doneness at about 50 minutes. The mini loaf may take about 15 minutes less than the full sized loaves.
- Cool loaves in pans on a rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn loaves right side up and cool completely.
"Oui, Chef" exists as an extension of my efforts to teach my kids a few things about cooking, and how their food choices over time effect not only their own health, but that of our local food communities and our planet at large. By sharing some of our cooking experiences, I hope to inspire other families to start spending more time together in the kitchen, passing on established familial food traditions, and starting some new ones. 
