I know there are tons of banana bread recipes out there but this is my favorite. It is so good with coffee in the morning or in the evening with tea. The kids love to find it in their lunch box or having it as a snack after school. Next time you have some over ripe bananas try this recipe out. I usually never make the topping and just make the banana bread mixture but if you want to try it out I have it for you below.

Delicious Banana Bread

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter 1/4 cup sugar 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract 2 ... Read More »]]>

I know there are tons of banana bread recipes out there but this is my favorite. It is so good with coffee in the morning or in the evening with tea. The kids love to find it in their lunch box or having it as a snack after school. Next time you have some over ripe bananas try this recipe out. I usually never make the topping and just make the banana bread mixture but if you want to try it out I have it for you below.

Delicious Banana Bread

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of salt
4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

For the Topping:

6 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
10 tablespoons of brown sugar
5 tablespoons of milk
Chopped (pecans or walnuts) optional

Preparation:

To prepare the banana batter:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Cream the butter and the sugar
3. Beat the eggs and add to the creamed mixture
4. Add bananas and vanilla
5. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix well
6. Pour into a greased pan (I like to use a bundt pan)
7. Bake 45 to 50 minutes and let cool for about 10 minutes

To prepare the topping:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan
2. Add sugar, vanilla, and milk
3. Cook until it is like a syrup
4. Remove from heat and add any nuts if you decide to use them
5. Pour over the bread and place under the broiler for 5 mintues

Carrie Pacini finds inspiration from abroad as she is an avid reader in European trends, Classic and Old World. She started The Tasteful Life to share her passion for culture, food, wine, travel and entertaining with other like-minded women.

Carrie is the co-founder of The Tasteful Life, the Mom 2.0 Summit, and The Wine Conference. Carrie lives in Houston with her husband @superjohn and children Adrian (9) and Giulia (5).

Be sure not to eat the bread all in one sitting. This makes ... Read More »]]>

I have made beer bread before but when I saw this recipe, I wanted to try it. I love to bake our bread and I knew the oats would lend it a whole different flavor.  I was right. It’s amazing bread. It makes a HUGE amount of dough and the recipe says to put it into two regular sized loaf pans. I would suggest to do that even though it looks like a lot. I used two Pullman loaf pans and so the loaves, although tasty, are short.

Be sure not to eat the bread all in one sitting. This makes absolutely FABU toast!

In food processor, grind the oats until fine; place in bowl of mixer.

Add the all purpose flour

Yeast

Skim milk powder

Brown sugar and salt to the bowl. Mix.

Heat water in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes at high. Add the beer.

Pour slowly into the mixer as it incorporates. Mix for 8 minutes until dough is elastic.

Place in greased bowl and let rise until double. Punch down, divide in half and place into 8 x 5 inch loaf pans. Let rise.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 40 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when thumped.

This is a yummy, dense bread that makes FABU toast!

Oat and Beer Bread

4 cups whole oats
5 cups flour
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 (12 ounce) bottle beer, room temperature
1/2 cup skim milk powder
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt

In food processor, grind the oats until fine; place in bowl of mixer. Add the all purpose flour, yeast skim milk powder, brown sugar and salt to the bowl. Mix.

Heat water in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes at high. Add the beer and pour slowly into the mixer as it incorporates. Mix for 8 minutes until dough is elastic.

Place in greased bowl and let rise until double. Punch down, divide in half and place into 8 x 5 inch loaf pans. Let rise.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 40 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when thumped.

Lauri Rottmayer is the author of the FABU Highway. When she’s not traveling the Highway, Lauri directs The Mrs. Oklahoma International Pageant, a competition for married Oklahoma women from ages 21-56.

You can visit Lauri’s websites at www.FABUHighway.com and www.TheMrsOklahomaPageant.com.

After the release of our first book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, in 2007, we started hearing from our readers. Many of them wanted to share their experiences with our innovative, time-saving, based on long-term dough storage. Many others had questions, so we set up a website and blog that were designed for questions and discussion.  Most of the questions directed at me sounded something like this: “You’re the doctor, ... Read More »]]>

by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoë François, Authors of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients

After the release of our first book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, in 2007, we started hearing from our readers. Many of them wanted to share their experiences with our innovative, time-saving, based on long-term dough storage. Many others had questions, so we set up a website and blog that were designed for questions and discussion.  Most of the questions directed at me sounded something like this: “You’re the doctor, what’s with all this white flour in the bread?”

Good question! The recipes in our first book were based on the traditional European repertoire, which meant lots of white flour. When people challenged me, I had to admit that I love a well-made white baguette, though I eat more whole grains than ever before. Variety is the spice of life, and I’m not ready to completely give up white flour. Every slice of bread doesn’t have to represent a completely balanced meal. But, people asked for recipes with more whole grains, and they were backed up by some heavy hitters in the nutrition world. The American Diabetes Association now endorses whole grains as a preventive for the development of diabetes. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture is similarly pushing for more whole grain intake. We decided to write a second book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, to give people more nutritious alternatives to white flour.

Whole grain nutrition: So how does whole grain flour stack up against white flour? White flour is milled strictly from wheat’s endosperm, the white part of the wheat kernel containing almost exclusively starch and protein (mostly gluten). There’s nothing wrong with starch and protein, but you’re missing all the benefits you get from whole grain’s “germ,” and all the fiber from the bran (the dark outer coating of the wheat kernel). Whole wheat includes the germ, which is packed with vitamins, anti-oxidants, and healthy oils. It’s a particularly rich source of Vitamin E, which, when combined with Vitamin C-containing foods, make one of the most powerful anti-oxidant combinations known. Please pass the homemade orange marmalade on whole wheat bread!

Whole wheat also includes bran, which doesn’t have vitamins and anti-oxidants — that’s wheat germ’s chance to shine. But bran has its own very special role to play, and I’d love to tell you all about it. Unfortunately, it seems that food professionals have some sort of gentle-person’s agreement about talking about the digestive tract, so if you’re interested in learning more about bran’s role in digestion, here’s a great website for you: Fiber: How to Increase the Amount in Your Diet, from the American Academy of Family Physicians. The family doctors seem pretty clear that fiber from whole grains prevents a wide range of health problems.

The other frequent question from readers was whether our books are a good fit for vegans (those who don’t eat meat or any other animal products, including eggs, and dairy). Most of our non-enriched recipes (that’s the majority of both books) are vegan in the first place. While many other whole grain authors use skim milk powder in whole wheat bread to tenderize it, we decided against that, mainly to keep things simple (fewer ingredients = simple). For vegans, the second book includes alternatives to butter in the enriched recipes. In our first book, butter was the animal-based ingredient that appeared most often. In Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, we give alternatives to butter, including canola oil and zero-trans fat, zero hydrogenated oil-based margarines. We also talk about the new products being sold as “butter substitutes,” usually made with vegetable oils, but also flavor-enriched with whey and other non-fat products of butter. Technically speaking, most of these are not vegan because of the whey, but check the ingredients as there are exceptions.

Fruits and vegetables in the bread: OK, who told the USDA to increase the recommended fruit/vegetable servings to nine (for a person whose ideal weight is 150 pounds)? I have a friend who says he can’t even name nine fruits and vegetables! Those are half-cup servings — is anybody really getting this much in their diet? I can tell you that I am not. There are some good rules of thumb, such as “two-thirds of the plate should be vegetable or fruit.” That helps, but even so, I don’t think I’m making my quota. That’s why we included a chapter in Healthy Bread about breads that are fortified with fruits and vegetables, sometimes ground finely, and sometimes chunky. We were amazed at how well this works, despite our fears that this stuff would weigh down the bread. Every little bit helps.

Gluten-free breads: I once interviewed a prominent gastrointestinal specialist from one of the country’s finest University hospitals, where his practice includes the treatment of celiac disease (intestinal allergy to wheat gluten). We talked about celiac disease, but I also asked him about people who aren’t celiac, but simply don’t feel well when they eat wheat. According to the Mayo Clinic, about 1 out of every 113 Americans have celiac disease. They become unpleasantly ill when they eat even small amounts of wheat gluten. The science is pretty clear on how to treat celiac patients: eliminate all gluten from their diet. Chapter 9 in Healthy Bread was written with them in mind. But the science is unclear on what to tell people who say they don’t feel well when they eat gluten, but don’t have celiac disease. My gastroenterologist friend has a very clear answer for those people. He tells them “don’t argue with success.” If you feel better when you avoid gluten, then decrease or eliminate it. So Healthy Bread is a book for those people well.

All this health talk makes me a bit wary. When I used to see patients, I turned over every rock to figure out how to reduce their risk of chronic disease — quit smoking, get more exercise, do your routine screening exams, and eat a healthier diet. But I’d hate to see people become obsessed with their diet, and specifically, about the bread. If you can pack some extra nutrition into the bread, and you like the flavor, by all means, go for it. But don’t let it destroy your appreciation for great bread and other foods. As we said in our first book, if you worry about the bread, it won’t taste good.

© 2009, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, used with permission of the Authors

Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., coauthor of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients, is a physician with twenty years of experience in health care as a practitioner, consultant, and faculty member at the University of Minnesota Medical School. His interest in baking and preventive health sparked a quest to adapt the techniques of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for healthier ingredients.

Zoë François, coauthor of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients, is passionate about food that is real, healthy, and always delicious. She is a pastry chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America. In addition to teaching baking and pastry courses nationally, she consults to the food industry and is the creator of the recipe blog www.zoebakes.com. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two sons.

The authors answer bread questions at their Web site: www.healthybreadinfive.com.

Photo Credit: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

You’ll want to combine the first four ingredients in a saucepan.  Cook over low heat until very warm. I usually gauge this by when the butter is just about all melted but you can measure that around ... Read More »]]>

How about a little cheese with your wine? Bread that is.  I wanted something special to go with dinner so that’s what I baked today – Wine Cheese Bread and it was FABU! While it is a yeast bread, the end result is almost closer to a quick bread in texture.  This was an easy bread to make with few ingredients, like most bread.

You’ll want to combine the first four ingredients in a saucepan.  Cook over low heat until very warm. I usually gauge this by when the butter is just about all melted but you can measure that around 120 degrees.  Set this mixture aside.

Stir 2 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of yeast together in your mixer bowl.

Add the wine mixture and eggs. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining flour and the cheese to make a soft dough.  Mix for 8 minutes.

Dough should have formed a ball in the mixer bowl.  Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, around 1 hour.

Punch the dough down and let rest for 10 minutes.  Place the dough in a greased pie plate. Cover and let rise again until double, around 40 minutes.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Cover with foil and bake an additional 20 minutes.

This bread has an amazing texture. Crunchy and cheesy on the outside and cakey with a tang of the wine on the inside. I’m sure you will agree that this bread is FABU!

Wine Cheese Bread

1/2 c. dry white wine
1/2 c. butter
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp dry yeast
3 eggs
1 c. shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until very warm (120 to 130 degrees). Set aside. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add wine mixture and eggs, beat at medium speed of an electric mixer 2 minutes. Gradually stir in cheese and enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes). Place dough in a greased bowl turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees) free from drafts, 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough, let rest 10 minutes. Place dough in greased 1-quart souffle dish or 9 inch pie plate. Cover and let rise in warm place (85 degrees) free from drafts, 40 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Cover with foil and bake an additional 20 minutes. Makes 1 loaf.

Lauri Rottmayer is the author of the FABU Highway. When she’s not traveling the Highway, Lauri directs The Mrs. Oklahoma Pageant, a competition for married Oklahoma women from ages 21-56.

You can visit Lauri’s websites at www.FABUHighway.wordpress.com and www.TheMrsOklahomaPageant.com.