Receta Joanne Chang's Famous Banana Bread
We
were having a house guest we knew started each day with a banana. So I dutifully brought a bunch of bananas
home from the supermarket. I am not one
to strip corn or pull apart bunches of bananas in any grocery store and so I
arrived home with 6 bananas that cost all of about 60 cents. The houseguest stayed only one night and
Andrew was quick to point we had a lot of bananas on hand. They slowly browned
on the kitchen counter. Brown bananas
are an invitation to make Banana Bread.
And since they were a regular part of tea with my Canadian mother, I
knew the bread couldn’t have been all that hard to make since my mother
considered any time spent in the kitchen was time away from doing absolutely
anything else. You name it and she would
have rather done it than step foot in her kitchen. But she was also a paragon of
thrift so no ripe banana would have gone unused.
Joanne Chang of Boston's Flour Bakery and CafeApparently
Joanne Chang’s mother and mine would have gotten along famously. Chef Chang, of Boston’s Flour Bakery, had a
mother whose thrift equaled mine’s. She
has vivid memories of her mother’s forays to the grocery where she bought
overripe bananas for 10 cents a pound.
These she would leave out in the kitchen exhorting her family of four to
‘have a banana’ whenever they were in earshot of the kitchen. Now Ms. Chang is well known for her taking
American classics and turning them on their heads. We’ve featured her a dozen
times in recipes from Strawberry Shortcakes http://www.chewingthefat.us.com/2013/06/joanne-changs-balsamic-strawberry.html
to Buttermilk Chive Salad Dressing http://www.chewingthefat.us.com/2013/07/farmers-market-salad-with-buttermilk.html. But Chang is most famous for taking classic
American foods like Oreos and Fig Newtons and making them into far more
satisfying versions of the originals. See this post for both. http://www.chewingthefat.us.com/2012/12/christmas-baking-homemade-oreos-and.html.
So it stands to reason that her banana bread would be the best of the best and
it really is. And talk about
simple! My mother would have glommed
onto this recipe in a New York minute.
It is packed with banana flavor, dense and filled with toasted walnuts,
cinnamon and vanilla. It took me all of
15 minutes to make the dough. Then into
the oven for an hours or so and the house was filled with the delicious smell
of this lovely Tea Time or anytime treat.
Here is the recipe:
Recipe for Joanne Chang’s Famous Banana Bread from Flour Bakery and
Café in Boston MA.
1 2/3 cups
all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1. Preheat oven to
350°F. Butter a 9- by 5- by 3-inch) metal loaf pan, then dust with flour,
knocking out excess.
2. Sift together 1 2/3
cups flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.
3. Beat together eggs
and sugar in bowl of electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and
pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes.
4. Reduce
speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, mixing, then mix in bananas, crème
fraîche, and vanilla. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in flour mixture and
walnuts gently but thoroughly.
5. Pour the batter into
the loaf pan, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until golden brown
and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
6. Cool loaf in pan on a
rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn loaves right side up and cool
completely.
Note: Banana bread keeps, wrapped well in plastic
wrap, at room temperature 2 days or frozen 1 month.