OK, I promised banana bread. First, as always,check out Alaska'a Golden Spoon. I have used that recipe ever since I got my starter from Lisa. No complaints at all.
But the Holly Tivoed an episode of "America's Test Kitchen" about banana bread. No url to the recipe here since their web site wants you to pay to join. If the show comes around, watch it. They made 3 changes to the typical banana bread recipe.
First: Instead of the normal 2 or 3 bananas they used 5 and heated them in the microwave to get lots of liquid out. Then they reduced the liquid to 1/4 cup and added it back to the bananas, mashed them up and used them in the recipe. This adds lots of extra banana flavor. A change I highly recommend and it doesn't require any other changes to the recipe/
Second: They sliced a banana and placed the slices on top of the batter in a line up each side of the pan (none in the middle). Well, it looks nice but doesn't really add anything. Didn't seem worth the effort and if you don't finish the loaf right away they slices start to absorb moisture.
Third: Before baking sprinkle some surgar (1/4 to 1/3 cup) over the top of the batter. This adds a nice little bt of crunch. Recommended but not required.
Bottom line: Follow Alaska's Golden Spoon recipe but use the America's Test Kitchen trick with the bananas.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Starter
Well, this is the first post of my sourdough blog. And, naturally enough, it concerns starters. But first, a bit of my histroy with sourdough. My family moved to Alaska in 1963 when I was 12 years old. My mother created a starter and did some pancakes but that is about all she did. I don't really remember much about it.
In 1977 my wife bought me a copy of "Rita Davenport's Sourdough Cookery" cookbook. She made a starter and we had a Sunday tradition of making fritters, doughnuts or cherry rolls from recipes in the cookbook. We kept the starter going for about 15 years and them through circumstances I won't go into here, it died.
Then in 2007 I decided it was time to do sourdough cooking again. I tried to make a starter but wasn't successful in a couple of tries so I dcecided to locate a commercial starter. Amazingly I didn't find much but what I found was perfect: Alaska's Golden Spoon (http://www.alaskagoldenspoon.com). Go to the web site and read all about it. If you don't want to (or fail at it as I did) make your own starter, this is the one to get. You get a starter with a history, a wooden spoon (I use mine exclusively for sourdough)and you get to support an Alaskan business. (And while you're at it read Lisa's book about dog sled racing!) If you're a Facebooker:http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=178642457969.
That's it for this post. Next time - Sourdough Banana Bread - combining the best of Lisa's recipe with one fro America's Test Kitchen.
In 1977 my wife bought me a copy of "Rita Davenport's Sourdough Cookery" cookbook. She made a starter and we had a Sunday tradition of making fritters, doughnuts or cherry rolls from recipes in the cookbook. We kept the starter going for about 15 years and them through circumstances I won't go into here, it died.
Then in 2007 I decided it was time to do sourdough cooking again. I tried to make a starter but wasn't successful in a couple of tries so I dcecided to locate a commercial starter. Amazingly I didn't find much but what I found was perfect: Alaska's Golden Spoon (http://www.alaskagoldenspoon.com). Go to the web site and read all about it. If you don't want to (or fail at it as I did) make your own starter, this is the one to get. You get a starter with a history, a wooden spoon (I use mine exclusively for sourdough)and you get to support an Alaskan business. (And while you're at it read Lisa's book about dog sled racing!) If you're a Facebooker:http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=178642457969.
That's it for this post. Next time - Sourdough Banana Bread - combining the best of Lisa's recipe with one fro America's Test Kitchen.
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