banana nut bread #1

When Da and I went to SIL's home in Punggol for dinner sometime in April 2009, SIL requested if I could bake a loaf of fruit and nut bread. One of my favourite fruit and nut bread is the Gardenia fruit and nut loaf. It is full of ingredients. I got interested and started researching the internet for fruit and nut bread recipes. I was not very satisfied with the recipes that I found on the internet (most of the recipes suggest including dried mixed fruits and sunflower seeds only). I had in mind to bake a loaf of bread that was rich with fruits and nuts.

In the meantime, I started paying more attention to nuts that I found in the baking section and organic section of the supermarkets.

Sometimes, I do some research before I attempt cooking or baking a new item. Sometimes, when the fancy takes me, I create a recipe on the spot.

When I baked the banana nut bread shown in this post, it was one of those "recipe created on the spur of the moment" situation. I have recently become more adventurous with experimenting with bread recipes. When I first started baking bread, most of the time my bread dough would not rise. Later, I found out that it was the brand of yeast that I bought that was the problem because when I changed to another brand, the problem went away. I am little disappointed because the brand of yeast that I bought previously is a popular brand and I have bought other products of that brand without problems. I was discussing the bread problem with Hamtaro one day and I found out that she also had the same problem when she used that brand of yeast. When I started experiencing success in baking bread, I decided that as I was a "newbie" (or "noob", as Supercute and Tau Suan would say) when it comes to the art of baking bread, I would follow recipes totally and not vary them until I was comfortable enough with the baking process and ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

1/8 cup low fat milk

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

1/3 cup butter (softened)

2 overripe large bananas (mashed)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1 1/3 cup bread flour

2 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

METHOD

1. Place all the ingredients (except the bread flour and yeast) in the bucket of the breadmaker machine.

2. Add the bread flour, making sure that the wet ingredients are totally covered.

3. Add the yeast.

4. Place the bucket in the breadmaker machine and set to "dough" cycle. Start the cycle.

5. When the dough cycle has been completed, turn the dough onto a loaf pan that has been greased and lined with baking paper.

6. Cover the loaf pan with a damp cloth and leave for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

7. Bake at 165 degrees celsius for 50 minutes.