Banana Feather Loaf

As I mentioned in one of my more recent posts, I hadnt been feeling well in the last couple of days. I thought I was better yesterday but was unexpectedly hit with a wave of nausea. Anyway, the staple food item of someone sick is toast. Now, I love bread but as I watch what I eat I reserve it for Shabbat only. I decided however, that being sick was a case for leniency. The only catch was that I didnt have any bread around. The likelihood is that I wouldnt have touched store bought bread anyway because after baking my own for so long, store bought just wouldnt do. As it happened, I had one lone banana left sitting in my fridge and it hit me that this would be THE perfect time to make Rose Levy Beranbaum's Banana Feather Loaf. So I got to baking. Wow, was I impressed. This bread is dangerously good. Living up to its name, the crumb of this loaf is indeed very light and extremely moist. Its crust is crunchy and crisp and so good. The bread retained the fragrance of banana and while some banana flavor remained in the crust, it was gone by the next day. I made this as a regular sandwich loaf with no steaming and no stone. I also omitted the milk (no dairy bread!) and used oil instead of butter or margarine. Sometimes, I think it pays to be sick. This bread is going straight to Yeastspotting!

Banana Split Coffee Cake

I like bananas. I buy them by the bunch from the Shuk. Invariably, they all go bad before I can eat them all. And so I bake with them. A quick sweep of this blog will show you that I've baked ALOT of banana baked goodies so it's a miracle that there are still original recipes to try. This latest one is the Banana Split Coffee Cake from King Arthur Flour's Baking Companion. Essentially it is a banana chocolate marble cake. Banana and chocolate are a classic combination but more than that, it used buttermilk (needed to use up) and oil (healthier!) so this really was a winning recipe. Nothing too complicated here- just mixing half the batter with melted chocolate, half the batter with mashed banana and layering. I didnt bother with the glaze because I was just too lazy, but it was fine without it. I might make one if I were bringing this to a party or a meal but my girls were none the wiser and perfectly content to eat any cake at all. Thankfully, I had little trouble unmolding this bundt from its pan, due to the large amount of PAM I sprayed the pan with. The cake was moist and soft and wonderfully good. One of my girls called it heavenly. This cake really lives up to its name and would be
PER-FECT with a cup of coffee.

Aunt Dot's Dutch Apple Cake

Today is a bit of an off day for me.... I didnt sleep well last night because I wasnt feeling well.. and still this morning, no change. Needless to say, I slept the morning away... and most of the afternoon also. I figured I'd blog a bit, but I haven't gotten around to it until now. It's five eight thirty p.m. I hate being sick. Anyway, last night, before I came down with whatever's bugging me, I managed to turn out two cakes, one being this apple cake. This recipe comes from Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters, a book of baking recipes collected from old cookbooks or pamphlets. Being a fan of finding cookbooks, both old and new, in used book stores, this book, with all of its recipes and their accompanying stories, is extremely appealing to me. This is only the third recipe I've made, but so far so good. Back to the cake. I'm not entirely sure what makes this cake Dutch but it was a snap to put together, the most difficult part being  peeling and slicing the apples. Scented with vanilla and topped with cinnamon sugar, it was light and pretty and moist. The only changes I made were to use cream instead of milk which added a level of richness, because that's what I had on hand and to bake this in my springform pan. Love those pans! Really though, this cake couldn't be simpler and will help you make a dent in your apple supply...

Mama's Challah

Another weekend, another Challah recipe. I spent this past Shabbat by my sister in Neve Daniel and she specifically requested that I make challot. Never one to turn down a request to make challot, I pulled out Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters to make their Mama's Challah. Here are my notes on this recipe. I used one kilo and the recipe yielded two giant challot and one nice sized roll. I used 1 tbsp instant yeast instead of two packages of quick rising. I used the three tablespoons of sugar but found it barely sweet so next time would add at least another. Also, I used the one tablespoon of salt called for but would up it by at least another half. The dough really handled beautifully- it kneaded and rolled like a dream. The final breads had amazingly fluffy texture-- a trademark of good kneading and good challah. I omitted the seeds from the top but I think they would add a lot to this recipe.

Caramel Brownies

Finally. Caramel brownies. I've been waiting and waiting to make these. I've searched every candy store that I see for mehadrin caramel candies so I could make them but have found none. So when I bought a jar of dulce de leche for a birthday cake and needed to use some of it up, I thought, it would have to do in place of caramel candies. (It should be noted, that dulce de leche is much simpler to work with than the candies..) In the end, it worked remarkably well. I gave a few to my sister who stopped by as a birthday treat and served them at our weekly meeting. The general consensus was that these were caramelly and delicious and... simply divine. I'm pretty sure that means these were a hit. I adapted this recipe from the Fatwitch Cookbook recipe for Caramel Witches. I dolloped on the dulce de leche and swirled it around. Next time, I'd swirl a bit less so that there would be pockets of caramel or I'd consider pouring half the brownie batter, spreading with caramel and topping with the remaining batter. Either way, you'll have people begging to scrape the pan clean.... Now.. what to do with the remaining dulce de leche....