Baking A Banana Loaf Using A Sourdough Starter

Visiting my sister-in-law, I saw a couple of overly ripe bananas in her kitchen and suggested she baked a banana bread. She admitted that she had intended to do so, only to discover that her oven wasn't working. I opted to take the bananas with me and return with a banana bread for a second visit. Arriving home, I thought it would be a great opportunity to experiment with using my sourdough starter to bake a banana bread. I did exactly that and was so impressed with the results, that I simply had to share the recipe.

You will need about 1/2 cup (125 ml or 125 g) of butter or margarine at room temperature.

Cream the butter/margarine with a cup (250 ml) sugar.

Add 4-8 ripe bananas.

Mix the bananas and creamed sugar and butter together.

Add a teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla essence and 2 eggs.

Add 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) sourdough starter.
Option: If you are using Instant Dry Yeast, you should add a packet to the mixture instead of, or in combination with, the sourdough starter. We are not adding any liquids to the dough and I therefore do not recommend using Active Dry Yeast as there is no liquid to develop it in.

Add 2 cups (500 ml) flour and 1/2 teaspoon (2,5 ml) salt.

Mix everything together. At this stage you have a very basic banana bread recipe, aside from the fact that you have NOT added 2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder. We left this out and replaced it with the sourdough starter.

Sourdough needs a dough, instead of a batter. The bubbles will simply pop in a batter, while a dough will trap the air, allowing the dough to rise. We now need to add more flour to create a dough. I added a teaspoon (5 ml) of banana flavouring as I wanted a stronger banana flavour than the 4 bananas would give me. I would have preferred to have worked with 8 bananas. I also added 1/2 cup (125 ml) of sugar. More bananas would have added more natural sweetness. I now needed to add it artificially. If you are uncertain about adding more sugar, taste your dough when you bring it together to satisfy yourself and add it if necessary. I added 2 cups (500 ml) of flour.

Bring the dough together. Add more flour if necessary. Knead for about 10 minutes.

Prepare a small bread pan with non-stick coating and sprinkle flour on the bottom.

Transfer the dough to the tin.

Allow to rise in a warm dry place after covering it with plastic.

Preheat the oven to 200 °C and bake for about an hour.

The bread is done when you hear a hollow sound when tapping the bottom of the loaf.

Allow to cool on a wire rack. You can spread a damp cloth over the hot bread if you prefer a softer crust.

Serve with butter.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.

Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
For more crafty ideas and great products, visit A Pretty Talent on Facebook.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by email by simply registering your email address at the top of the current blog.