Kitchen Aid mIxer – Homes In Progress

I’m late to the banana bread party that happened early this Spring but this stuff is good. Really good. My family will eat it for breakfast, lunch, an after school snack, or even dessert. So now you too can make this easy recipe and wow your family and friends.

Banana bread starts with you guessed it, bananas. When the bananas are past their prime I don’t always have the time to make banana bread. So I freeze them. Yes, I put them directly into the freezer brown spots and all and after a while when they are good and frozen the bananas will look a lot like this.

When I decide to make banana bread I usually double the recipe so I can make one loaf to eat right away and another loaf to either give to someone else or freeze for another day. So the following recipe will make two loaves but you can divide it in half and just make one if you so choose.

The process is not pretty. Frozen bananas are ugly and slimy but oh so necessary for banana bread. Take the 6 bananas out of the freezer and let them defrost for an hour or so in a bowl. Put them in a bowl or they will eventually leak all over your counter. You’re welcome for that small tip.

Cut open the bananas. I use a pair of scissors for this. As you peel the skin off the banana hold it over the bowl you want to mix it in. They are a squishy mess at this point and will likely fall into the bowl. If Obviously throw the empty skins away. I’m sure there is something out there telling us what can be done with banana skins but this is not that blog. Once you have peeled all your bananas mix them well. I use a Kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment.

When the bananas are well mixed add 2 cups of granulated sugar, mix again until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle, mix again briefly and then add 1 cup of oil. I use coconut oil but canola or another neutral oil will work as well. Mix again until the oil is mixed in and not floating on the top.

Add 4 eggs and mix well. Scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle and mix again before adding 6 TBSP of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. I don’t think it’s important which type of milk is used. Regular, 1%, almond milk, whatever type of milk you have in the fridge will work. If someone tries buttermilk in this recipe let me know how it goes. Mix again.

Add 2 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of salt, and 4 cups of all purpose flour. Mix again. If up to this point you have ignored my advice to scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle attachment right now is when you should listen to me. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle, making sure that you get all the way down to the bottom of the bowl because you want everything to combine together.

Use a non-stick spray to coat the insides of two loaf pans before you evenly pour the batter into the pans.

Bake on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 350 for an hour.

Check to see if it is done by using a long toothpick and poking it in the center of the bread on the top. If the toothpick comes out dry you are good to go. Otherwise if it is still gooey bake for an additional 5-10 minutes and then check again.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before you slice it. These freeze really well and can be made in smaller mini loaf pans. If you use a smaller loaf pan start checking to see if the bread is done after 40 minutes.

These really are as good as they look. We love them served right out of the oven but they also freeze really well! If you freeze them unbaked, they can be baked straight from the freezer. Talk about a time saver!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
1 cup buttermilk

Mix dry ingredients in a mixer bowl. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer because it makes this process easier. Use the paddle attachment and mix it on stir or 2 for about 30 seconds or so.

Cut the cold butter into tiny pieces like I’ve shown above. Except you should finish the job! The tinier the better but about this size will do. When it’s all cut up add the butter pieces to the dry mixture.

Mix the butter in at a low speed until the butter looks like pebbles in the flour.

Pour the buttermilk into the butter and flour mixture. Mix on a low to medium speed until the liquid is absorbed and the mixture looks similar to the above photo. This happens sooner than you think, so keep an eye on it. Once the mixture doesn’t have any obvious liquid in the bowl and the dough sticks to the paddle stop mixing.

Put the dough on a lightly floured surface. I’m a fortunate girl because we remodeled our kitchen last year and now have quartz counter tops. Quartz is a fantastic surface to roll dough on and it seems to require less flour, if any at all, to keep the dough from sticking. Roll the dough out to about a 1/2 inch thickness. Use your best judgement.

Use a biscuit cutter or even a small glass will do, and cut the dough into biscuits. Try to keep your circles close together. Then place the biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet making sure that they aren’t touching each other.

This part is a little like playing with Play-dough. Take the scraps in your hands and form them back into a lumpy ball and then roll them out again just like you did the first time. Repeat cutting the biscuits out and placing them on a baking sheet. Gather the scraps again, roll out the smaller lumpy ball, and cut out what biscuits you are able to get.

When you get to the end and only have a tiny bit of dough just take that piece of dough and roll it into a ball in your hands and call that little thing your last biscuit!

Bake the biscuits at 450 for about 12-15 minutes. Below is the color we are looking for so start checking them at about 12 minutes so that they don’t over bake.

Enjoy them warm, split them in half and spread with butter, jam, or whatever you choose!

Tag: Kitchen Aid mIxer

Banana Bread

Buttermilk Biscuits