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Thursday, February 4, 2010

Jamie Oliver’s Banana and Honey Bread

 
Finally, "real" banana bread

The last time I made Jamie Oliver's Banana Bread, it turned out to be firstly not a bread and secondly not really Jamie Oliver's.

It was not a bread because it really was just a quick-mix cake. (But in US, they would call still it a banana bread.. though the rest of us would call it banana cake...)

It wasn't Jamie Oliver's recipe, but rather a recipe on his website, under the Community section, which meant someone else contributed the recipe.

And even though the banana cake was nice, I really wanted to make a "real" banana bread.

Well, today I made "the real thing". I'm in a very bread-making mood this week and this is my third one.

I adapted from Jamie Oliver's Banana and Honey bread recipe.. (This recipe really does belong to him this time around...)

The original recipe is here but I adapted it a little - I didn't change very much but I wanted less sugar and more fruit in my bread.

Ingredients
• 500g strong bread flour (I used a mixture of very strong bread flour and regular bread flour)
• 315 ml iced water + bananas mixture (start with 3 very ripe bananas, blended and top up with water)
• 3 tbsp honey
• 10g dried instant yeast
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• Additional banana and almond slices for topping

What I did
1. Mix all the dry ingredients
2. Add water-banana mixture and honey slowly as you knead
3. Knead until dough is silky and elastic. The dough is quite tough.. I ended up adding a little bit more water, about 30ml more but I think a lot also depends on the flour used. I kneaded it until a small piece of dough that I take out can be stretched fairly thinly across
4. Lightly flour top of dough, cover in cling wrap and proof until double in size
5. Divide and shape to 6 round balls and place them rather closely together, so that after they proof they'd stick together
6. Proof for 90mins or until double in size
7. Drizzle with 1 tbsp honey, top with sliced bananas and almonds
8. Bake at 190 deg C for 20 mins

I decided to proof for a longer time for the second proof because The Husband has mentioned to me before that the second proofing is actually more important for the bread to be soft and fluffy.

Incidentally, it is also what Jamie Oliver says in his basic bread recipe- "This is the most important part, as the second prove will give it the air that finally ends up being cooked into your bread, giving you the really light, soft texture that we all love in fresh bread. So remember – don't fiddle with it, just let it do its thing.”

The bread turned out fine - but it is a very dense and heavy bread. Whilst I think it might be that I should have proofed for an even longer time, I suspect that is because of the flour that was used for this bread..

But it is a yummy bread and will be my breakfast for the rest of the week..


Banana and Honey Bread - yummy!

13 comments:

  1. You're really good at this. Just reading the steps tires me out...

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  2. Ting, hehe.. thanks! I don't know what has gotten into me this week.. :p

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  3. Very inspiring. I am gonna make this one and the sun-dried tomato one.

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  4. Oh.. you should! I really like homemade bread.. For this particular recipe, the next time I try it, I'd use normal bread flour instead and see the difference.. but it might mean a little less water. Strong bread flour has a higher level of gluten content so the bread is tougher and more chewy.

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  5. Yummi-licious posts!

    Your recent posts on breads are not reader-friendly to one who is carbo-fasting (me). LOL. The cravings after looking at them are so bad that I MUST (if not i'll be irritable) cross the street on a hot, sunny afternoons to get myself some bread.

    Some day i'll bake your foccacia recipe :)

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  6. Rummi, hehe.. I'm so flattered that my posts have that kind of effect on you.. I'd try to post a few more non-carbo posts soon.. I really hope to try out that duck soup from Ting's blog..:)

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  7. Oh no, pls dun stop! You are good at bread... well, my carbo-fasting plan is getting nowhere, think i'll give it up. Better die happy than hungry, LOL.

    And yes, BT's duck soup is enticing enuff, even on print. So wat, u fire up a charcoal on your patio too??

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  8. BT's duck soup is the "ZE best!" The family likes it so much that their tongues loll out when I say there's duck soup for dinner.

    Everyone looks like Milo then.

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  9. Hehe, duck soup is the fav in our family too. On duck soup days, YK would type "Duck Soup for dinner!" as status in his Facebook.

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  10. Just made this - great recipe, thanks!
    I added some bicarbonate of soda to the banana mix (about 1 large tsp) which helps to counteract the acidity of bananas & so should help the rolls be lighter. Seemed to work quite well for me anyway! (I also used mostly plain flour, but just because we were running out of bread flour)

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  11. Hi Bryony, I'm so glad you liked it! :) I'd try a mixture of plain and mixed flour too next time!

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  12. I tried Jamie's recipe last 2 years, and I found it to be dense too. I'm suspecting it's the acidity of the banana that is creating havoc with the texture. I was also thinking of neutralising the banana too just likw what Bryony did, but I think 1/2 tsp of soda bicarb will be good enough.

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  13. Oh I'm going to try the bicarbonate soda!

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