MAKE
BANANA BREAD
BY LENA MILLER
Makes one loaf
INGREDIENTS
Dry:
¾ Cup or 108g Yecora Rojo Whole Wheat flour
½ Cup or 67g Functional flour
½ tsp or 2.5g baking soda
¾ tsp or 5g salt
Wet:
½ Cup or 120g cane sugar*
⅓ Cup or 65g Oil, I prefer Olive oil but a neutral oil will do (Canola, grapeseed, safflower...)
⅓ Cup or 80g Buttermilk*
2 medium eggs, approx 100g
2 medium, overripe bananas, peeled and mashed
/ FLOUR TO MAKE BREAD \
Instruction
LinePreheat oven to 350℉.
Oil your loaf pans. I also like to line my pans with parchment paper for guaranteed easy removal.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl (you’re going to add the wet ingredients into this bowl so make sure it is large enough), whisk together sugar, oil, buttermilk, eggs, and mashed banana until mixture is one loose batter. I like to leave 1 banana out and mix it in at the very end, leaving some larger pieces of banana in the batter, which will then turn into yummy caramelized banana bites in the finished bread. Your call.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in three installments. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir to combine. If you're adding nuts or chocolate chunks now is the time to incorporate them. Notice I say chunks, not chips. I prefer chunks and I prefer to cut them up myself. That way you can get those tiny chocolate flakes or shards in the bread too. Stracciatella style.
Distribute batter into pans. If you want to incorporate a nut butter, drop spoonfuls into the batter and using a butter knife, gently cut back and forth the length of the pan to create a swirl.
Check on the bread after 25 minutes. It should have risen to its full height but is still raw in the center. Rotate the pans and bake for another 10ish minutes. To ensure it is done, pierce the bread with a skewer or knife. If it
comes out clean, it is done. Remove loaves from the oven.
Leave in the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. When bread is fully cooled, remove from the pan. Serve with coffee or tea, with fresh berries, or just a schmear of butter.
To store: I like to leave the bread in the pan and loosely cover it with foil. The bread will lose its crunch if it comes into any humidity. It should keep this way for up to four days (I can’t be certain because mine is usually consumed within two days). To extend its shelf-life, you can also keep in an air-tight container in the fridge.
— ABOUT tHE CHEF —
LENA MILLER
Growing up in Berkeley, with its edible schoolyards, gourmet ghetto, and meyer lemons hanging heavily from neighborhood trees, Lena may have been destined to care deeply about food. But there must be something inborn, too, because Lena seems instinctively to pause for all things beautiful: the burnished braids of just-baked challah on her family’s table, the early morning dew on those lemon blossoms, or the scent of dried bay laurel leaves cracking underfoot during her Tilden Park trail runs. Whatever its origin, nature or nurture, her aesthetic sensibility ensures that anything that comes out of Lena’s kitchen is as wonderful to behold as it is to eat.
RECIPES
– GRAPEFRUIT POPPYSEED CAKE –
ALL PURPOSE
– CAVATELLI –
HEIRLOOM FARINA
– CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES –
ALL PURPOSE + ROUGE DE BORDEAUX
– HALVA CHALLAH –
ALL PURPOSE
OUR COMMUNITY
- THEY INSPIRE US -
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