Banana Yeasted Sandwich Bread

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Yeast Breads
Dish: Banana Yeasted Sandwich Bread

We are back to the regular weeking marathons this month. It has been quite a roller coaster ride exploring the dishes from all the Indian states. So I'm taking a short break from Indian food and decided to bake some yeast breads for the first week of Blogging Marathon# 40.
My husband bought me this Bread maker recently. He wanted to buy one a while back, but I was resisting the idea -- didn't want to clutter the kitchen with another appliance. But when it went on sale couple of months ago, we went ahead and bought it. Since then we have stopped buying bread unless it is absolutely necessary and I bake about 2 loaves of bread every week.
But what I found out was that the bread baked in the machine is rather unsightly -- awkwardly large and has a gaping hole in the bottom. I couldn't even pull myself to take a picture of that monstrosity -- don't get me wrong, it tastes amazing, but it is just not camera ready (you know what I mean.. right!!!!)

My husband does not agree with me and there have been (and will be in the future too) many arguments about it. I have started to use the 'Dough Cycle' in the bread maker, which means it mixes all the ingredients and also the first rise happens in the bread machine. I take it out after the 1st rise, shape it into whatever shape bread I'm making and let it rise 2nd time and then bake it in the regular oven. It took me couple of trials to figure what setting to use on the machine and now I'm slowly getting used to my new bread machine.
But for this week's marathon, I used my stand mixer to mix the ingredients and baked the loaves in the oven. Our requirements for bread are quite simple: it has to be soft (not chewy or crunchy) and should be relatively easy to make. So 9 out of 10 times I bake in my 9"x5" loaf pan and the remaining 1 time shape into a boule or other bread shape.

We buy bananas every week, even if we haven't finished the ones from the previous week. So of course there's an excess of bananas and I'm ALWAYS looking for ways to use them. One such looking, led me to this Banana Yeasted Sandwich bread recipe on King Arthur Flour's website (did I tell you how much I love KAF, look at all the recipes I made from their site).

This is a soft and has almost white bread like texture with no discernible smell or taste of banana. I think banana only contributes to the texture and not to the taste of the bread. A must try for all bread bakers who have extra bananas. I added 1 cup of whole wheat flour to bump up the fiber.
Bread tastes great with some butter and jam. It even tastes good with savory fillings and as sandwich bread. It is also perfect to use in French Toast. I didn't have left over this time, but the next time I'm definitely going to make some French Toast

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour site:
Ingredients:
Bread Flour - 2cups
White wholewheat flour - 1cup (or use 3 cups of bread flour)
Butter - 2tbsp, at room temperature
Milk - 1cup, lukewarm
Instant Yeast - 2¼tsp
Honey - 2tbsp
Salt - 1tsp
Banana - 1 medium size, mashed, about ¾cup

Method:

• In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of the stand mixer, combine all the ingredients to form a shaggy dough. Knead for 5 minutes (by mixer) or 10 minutes (by hand) until the dough is smooth and pliable. Place in a lightly greased bowl and allow to rise for 1 hour.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled surface and shape it into a log. Place the log into a lightly greased 8½"x4½" loaf pan (I used a 9"x5" loaf pan), cover with plastic wrap or a plastic shower cap and allow to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until it is full and rounded.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Bake the bread for 35~40 minutes or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the bread reads 190°F. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, then tent it with a aluminum foil for the final 10 minutes of baking.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 40.
Linking this to this week's Fabulous Feast Friday# 13 being hosted by Sandhya & Mir.