Saturday, March 2, 2013

Honey Banana Poppy Seed Bread


Banana bread is a "treat" at our house, also known as a "special breakfast" which normally only happens on the weekends. Is it a sign of our deprivation or our down-to-earthiness that something so simple is prized? Of course we often add chocolate chips. And some of us toast our slices and add butter. Or whipped cream cheese. Hence the treatiness.

Anyway, we've been working with the same Fannie Farmer Banana Bread recipe for a while. mr. even uses it, and he doesn't bake much. It's so reliable and easy, that I've been hesitant to try anything new (haven't even tried this one yet, as tempting as it is). But, you know, I have a thing for those Baked boys, so I had to try their recipe (plus, *whisper* I just happened to have all of the ingredients in my pantry).

My impressions: I liked it. We all liked it. It's equally as easy as our Fannie Farmer standby, but has a slightly different flavor. I like the honey.


(Although it can be complicated to stir honey into a recipe, it likes to stick to itself. Obvs.) I like the poppy seed.


I like what they bring to the party individually and together. What I'm not so sure about is the texture. And the baking time. I had to bake mine almost 15 extra minutes to get to a point where I wasn't seeing batter on the tester. And that might have affected the texture. I like my banana bread a little crispy on the outside (I usually bake it the night before and leave it out overnight instead of putting it in plastic, so the outside can have that almost-stale crisp to it). This looked promising,


but the outside ended up almost chewy. Which I didn't love.

My theory: I used frozen, thawed bananas. And you know, bananas don't freeze super well. They have a lot of liquid. I think, even after I strained that off there was still too much liquid for the recipe to handle.

My solution: I think I have no choice but to bake another loaf. With better bananas. And update this next week. Because, I know those Baked boys like a tender bread as much as I do.



TGIP Rating--Honey Banana Poppy Seed Bread--taste is a KEEPER. I need another crack at it before I can decide whether the texture gets my vote.

3/7/13 Update: Made it again last night with fresh (but ripe) bananas. Lesson learned. Cooking time was spot on and the bread was much more tender. This is definitely a KEEPER. The honey flavor=so so good.

Next up: Malted Milk Sandwich Cookies from Baked Explorations. Another Baked Sunday Mornings project.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks great! :)

Have Apron....Will Bake said...

It is a keeper! I was hesitant when I saw the ingredients, but I'm glad I tried it too. I baked mine for the full hour and 10 minutes and left it in the pan to cool. I have a great banana bread recipe. Will try to share it.

Chelly said...

Looks yummy!

Chelly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I had to bake twice as well, and it was definitely worth it! I'm not a banana person, so I don't know anything about the anatomy of frozen bananas, but that could certainly be the culprit! Looking forward to seeing your update! :)

Susan said...

It's funny that we all have our tried and true recipes for banana bread. I was a little reluctant to try this one, but glad I did. Yours looks great!

Kris' Kitchen said...

We enjoyed this moist flavorful banana bread. I've wondered about baking with frozen bananas...I'll be careful. They are good in pancakes, but baked goods might be a different story.