Friday, October 08, 2010

Strawberry Banana Bread

Strawberry Banana Bread 1

All these bakeries posts reminded me that I had a few baked items in the queue. I don't do much baking and as you know, once I discover I like a baked good in a certain way, that's it. I might make variations here and there, but essentially it's the same recipe. And so it is that all sweet bread recipes are variations of my basic Banana Bread. I mean, I already know it'll produce moist, slightly sweet bread, so I'm hard-pressed to try something new?

I went a little overboard with the strawberries because I wanted the burst of pink to show in the photos, but that really made the bread too soggy. I halved it for the recipe because you really don't want to make my mistake. I held off on blogging this because I kept meaning to make it again and take nicer photos, but I'll never slog through my queue at that rate. These photos and this recipe have languished since April 2008.

Strawberry Banana Bread 2

Strawberry Banana Bread
Adapted from my recipe for Banana Bread

For two loaves, or one big loaf and two mini loaves, you'll need:
1 to 1 1/2 cups strawberries, stems removed and sliced or quartered, tossed with 2 tblsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, or 1 stick, softened at room temperature, or 1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 mashed overripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour (I prefer a half whole wheat, half white ratio as the whole wheat makes it taste a little nuttier.)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 8-oz container, about 1/2 cup, yogurt

Optional: 1 cup walnuts

These days, supermarket strawberries aren't sweet enough for me. They're often picked before they're ripe and just don't taste as good as strawberries freshly picked from the shrub. Nonetheless, the harder, less sweet strawberries are perfectly fine for this recipe. Wash and remove the stems.

Strawberry Banana Bread 3

Then slice them into quarters and toss with 2 tblsp sugar. Set aside.

Strawberry Banana Bread 4

In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter with 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Add bananas and 1 tsp vanilla and beat again.

Strawberry Banana Bread 5

Beat eggs by adding them in one at a time. Gently by hand, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 2 tsps baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt with butter/sugar/banana mixture.

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Gently fold in yogurt until just combined. Do not overmix. I used strawberry yogurt, but plain or vanilla yogurt works just fine.

Strawberry Banana Bread 7

Add in the strawberries.

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And walnuts if you so desire.

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Gently mix again.

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Bake in a large greased loaf pan or two smaller ones at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to one hour.

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An hour later.

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Let the strawberry banana bread cool down a little before slicing.

Strawberry Banana Bread 13

Enjoy!

Strawberries go bad pretty quickly so this bread is best enjoyed in a day or two. Refrigerate to make sure it keeps longer.

My other sweet bread recipes:
Banana Bread
Blueberry Muffins
Cinnamon Rolls
Mango Bread
Persimmon Bread
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cranberry/Pumpkin Butter/Walnut Filling and Maple Icing
Taro Dinner Rolls

*****
1 year ago today, giant catfish and family trips home.
2 years ago today, Ko Hyang Tofu House - San Gabriel.
3 years ago today, lil' sis made funnel cake.

4 comments:

  1. What a beautiful banana bread! I never would have thought about putting strawberries with bananas.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a winning flavor combination...I'll have to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love banana bread. I'm sure I'll love this one!

    Funny story, two weeks ago I got a ziplock bag filled with some Amish bread batter with instructions. It's called the Amish Friendship Bread or something like that. The point of it is to follow the instructions through until the last day where you portion out some to give to others and continue on with the recipe to bake 2 loaves of bread. Well, I decided I didn't want this giving someone else a ziplock bag of bread batter so I made it all. I hit a huge snag and this blog entry made me laugh when I saw pictures of it.....I don't have loaf pans! I baked them in round cake pans. Needless to say, the middle caved slightly but the recipe has a sugar cinnamon dusting so it didn't look that bad. I just thought about it seeing the picture of you loaf pans. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. x3baking,
    Strawberries and bananas are such a natural combo for me.

    5 o'clock,
    It definitely is one of my favorite flavor combos.

    Kitty,
    What a great story. Bread batter meant to be shared. I used to not have enough pans and substituted with whatever I had on hand. But after many years scouring thrift shops, I've now got almost all the kitchen supplies I need.

    ReplyDelete

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