Blueberry Banana Bread

I had some overripe fruit that needed to be used up, so I decided to make some bread. I started with this basic banana bread recipe and tweaked it from there. Gary gives this the thumbs up... very tasty!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (alternatively, omit and use a total of 1/2 cup butter)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup blueberries
3 mashed overripe bananas
1 TB vanilla extract
1 TB cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
nonstick cooking spray

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2) In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.

3) In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs, applesauce, mashed bananas, and vanilla extract until well blended.

4) Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Fold in blueberries.

5) Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Challah Bread

I'm not Jewish, but when I was in grad school, my two Jewish housemates made challah every Friday. Thus, a love affair with this delicious bread was born. I lost their original recipe, so this is one I've made over the years, culled from several different sources. This uses more sugar and honey than usual, but I like it sweet. You can decrease the amount if you prefer.

Ingredients
3-4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup warm water
3 TB vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp yeast
pinch of salt
4 TB sugar
4 TB honey
1 egg plus water for egg wash
sesame seeds or poppyseeds (optional)

Directions
1) Put water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Let yeast dissolve. Add 1/2 cup flour and stir to combine. Let mixture set for 15 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly.

2) Mix in oil, 2 eggs, salt, and honey. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix until the dough is no longer sticky-- the amount of flour varies, but you will use 3-4 cups. I do this in a Kitchenaid mixer, but you can do this by hand as well. If you are mixing by hand, turn out the dough on a floured surface and knead until elastic and smooth.

3) Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean towel, and let rise until dough is doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down dough and briefly knead out the bubbles.

4) Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each section between your hands until you get ropes of equal size and shape. They should be about 12 inches long.

5) Lay the ropes side by side on a lightly oiled baking sheet, and then pinch the tops together. Braid the loaf, and then tuck under the end pieces. Cover with a towel and let rise for about 45 minutes.

6) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat one egg and add a little water to make a thin egg wash. Brush the bread with the egg wash, and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds if desired. Bake bread for 30 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Wheat Bread with Flax Seeds

Another recent random grocery store purchase-- flax seeds. Gary was all, "What are flax seeds and why are you buying them?" I dunno. I heard they were healthy for you and stuff? Of course, I had no idea what to do with them until I came across this recipe. I had everything on hand except the sunflower seeds, which I omitted, so I thought I would give it a try. This made a very dense, but tasty, bread. It has a nutty flavor, so we paired it with something sweet-- apple butter-- and it was delicious. The original version was for a bread machine. I used my Kitchenaid mixer... this is how I did it.

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup flax seeds
cooking spray, or oil

Directions
Set oven at the lowest setting.

In a small bowl, mix warm water and honey. Add yeast; let sit for about 5 minutes until the mixture is bubbly.

Using the mixer with the dough hook, mix the dry ingredients together. Add the yeast mixture slowly. Mixer should be on the "stir" setting. When the dough starts forming together, add the oil, one tablespoon at a time. Turn the mixer up to #2 setting and let the dough knead for several minutes until it forms a smooth ball. If the dough is too dry, add water; if it is too sticky, add more flour.

Spray a mixing bowl with cooking spray. Put the dough in the bowl and cover with a towel. Turn off the oven, place the covered bowl inside, and leave the oven door open slightly. Let the dough rise for 1-1.5 hours.

Spray a bread pan with cooking spray. Punch down the risen dough, and place in the bread pan. Cover and allow to rise for another 20-30 minutes while oven preheats.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes, remove from pan, and allow to cool on a wire rack.