Banana Feather Loaf

Banana Feather Loaf with Peanut Butter and Banana

I get along with bananas like a house on fire. So it's natural that I would choose, for my first Bread Bible post, the Banana Feather Loaf to compliment the Banana Split Chiffon assigned to the Alpha Bakers for the Baking Bible. I think it's interesting to explore all the different ways bananas can be used and adapted to suit different applications. So to celebrate the banana, maybe we should whip up a little Banana Lemon Curd for the loaf, then mix up a Banana Daiquiri, and serve up all of our very different banana things, and have a banana party, and call it The Banana Bomba!

Here's my experience:

DOUGH STARTER: Mixing the flour, yeast, water and honey is a very straight forward process and couldn't be easier.

This is the water and honey

The flour and instant yeast

The liquid and dry ingredients make the starter.

MAKE THE SPONGE: Mixing the flour and adding it to the sponge is another very simple step in the process of making bread.

The flour blanket

ADDING THE BANANA! Yeah, it's time to add the banana. I mashed it with the soft butter and salt just to ensure that they would mix properly.

Adding the banana and butter to the sponge.

MIXING THE DOUGH BY HAND: This was too sticky to knead by hand. I had to add flour because it was impossible to otherwise. The machine wouldn't have cared, but manoeuvring around my bread bowl with this sticky mess wasn't enjoyable. 

The dough was a sticky mess

Still, I was committed, so I did my best. Letting the dough rest for 20 minutes changed the mood of the dough and afterwards, it was a charm to work with.

Resting the dough for 20 minutes

I let it rise until double, 

The dough after the first rise

and then I folded up the four corners 

Folding up the four corners

Then gave it two business folds

then  gave it two business folds

The dough ready for the second rise

and let it rise again. It took much longer and by this time, it was too late to shape it and let it rise again, So I stuck it in the refrigerator and went to bed.

8am morning, I took it out of the cold box, shaped it into a loaf and let it rise. 

The dough is ready for the loaf pan for the final rise

Again, it took forever so I went dancing. I got home at 4pm and the bread had reached the top of the mold. That's a long time proofing. 

This took all afternoon to rise to this level

So I fired up the jets to 475F. That's a super hot oven. 

Baking it, it sank a little. Huh? I suspect I over-rose it. Is that possible? Maybe the chemical reaction was completely gone and the structure of the bread collapsed a little. 

Tasting it, it certainly tasted a bit on the sour side. The banana was very faint, but it was moist and very pleasant.

The Banana Feather Loaf sliced, toasted and ready to eat.