bread using bananas (not banana bread)

Profile picture for user ccsdg
ccsdg on 14 May 2014 at 06:25

I've been given a large number of bananas and there's only so much banana bread (quickbread) we can eat. I'd much rather make sourdough anyway. For the purposes of hydration, how much liquid does a banana contribute?

So far i've made one batch baked and one proving as we speak. Both ended up with unmanageably high hydration, so the bananas must have added some liquid (i knew that already, but didn't know exactly how much). i started out with my 70% hydration formula as a comparison baseline but the hydration was so high i couldn't form gluten when machine kneading, before adding flour to compensate. I'm guessing it was over 100% at that point, since my 100% starter does at least form gluten!

Hope that helps.

Keep in mind that a wheat berry itself is 13% water, so I don't think you want to use the full 75% for considering hydration.

Bananas also freeze really well, and make good bases for smoothies. Also, banana pancakes.

That said, your banana bread sounds like an interesting experiment.

Mmm, banana smoothies! Pity we are moving into winter here in new zealand so all those cool summery recipes would be sadly amiss in the cold and wet. They really do give a smoothie some gravity. I used to add strained yoghurt to mine as well.

so cinn rolls are a good direction too.  If you mashed a banana with a fork, you can see how gloppy and wet they are.  I peel and freeze them when they are too many.  Eat frozen like icecream  or drop frozen into the blender with milk for a shake.  But full of sugar.  1/2 a standard B is a fruit serving.  Can also be cut and dried if not too ripe.  Also mashed and spread on parchment to make dried fruit rolls.  Adding coconut flakes helps them dry faster.  Add some lemon juice to reduce brown oxidation.  

Banana Margaritas with lime and tequila.   Um...  If you bake with them on the green side, there won't be too much banana flavour, dead ripe on the other hand make the flavour.  You can also feed yeast water with them and you can make banana wine if you have a very large number of them.  Distil that and I'll be coming round to visit.

Arg, delicious ideas mini, good point about coconut being so absorbent too. You mentioned on Shiao-Ping's blog about adding oats too which would work well. Yes in the past i mashed and froze my extra bananas for a lovely toddler-friendly nearly-icecream dessert, though that of course takes freezer space.

Banana wine, now that i have never heard of!

Cooking bananas into oatmeal is also delicious, and might be better suited to your winter weather. Add them in at the beginning of cooking and wait until they break down. Then you have an extra sweet and creamy porridge; you may like some cinnamon and nutmeg on it. I think I've also topped it with dried sweetened cranberries.