A Southern Grace: ayples and banaynays

May 30, 2009

ayples and banaynays

Yum

Remember that song? I'm not crazy, I promise--there is a song.


Moving on. I made another sourdough bread, complete with a special ingredient and a smidge of a disappointment.

I had high hopes for this bread. Bananas, apples, banana-peach-applesauce. That sourdough twang. Cinnamon. Awesome. And truth be told, it does taste magnificent...if you can get it to your mouth.


Yeah, it's crumbly. Quite crumbly. My slices (cut waaaay too thin) practically disintegrated upon contact. I attribute this to two things. First of all, the fat involved is shortening, which I should've known isn't the best at holding things together based on my experiences with it in pie dough. Secondly, I forgot to rehydrate the dried apples, so they undoubtedly sucked out a lot of the moisture that should've been present.


How misleadingly sturdy it looks.

These belated epiphanies aside, I think I'll try this recipe again. The flavor's there, dang it. However, I won't make the same mistakes, and I might go with muffins instead of loaves.

Ayple and Banaynay Bread
(adapted from this recipe)

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 banana, mashed
1/2 cup applesauce (I used
Beech-nut Homestyle Peaches, Apples & Bananas)(go team!)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup dried cinnamon apples, rehydrated and drained well

Preheat oven to 350F and grease whatever pan you'll be using.
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar, add the egg and mix until blended. Beat in the banana, applesauce, sourdough starter, and vanilla. In a smaller bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture and diced apples to the wet ingredients, stirring until just blended. Pour into pan of choice, whether it be a 9x5" loaf pan or a tray of mini-loaf molds. Bake for 1 hour for one big loaf, 35-40 minutes for mini loaves, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before attempting to slice.

53 comments:

Christo Gonzales said...

"misleadingly sturdy" I like that - in fact I like that quality in a lot of things - if it goes good with butter then it goes good with me!

OhioMom said...

All the ingredients are there for a wonderful bread, but you are right I would have soaked the apples first ... looks yummy though :)

lisa is cooking said...

Sounds like a great combination! Muffins or loaves, I think it would be delicious either way.

Leslie said...

OMG..lol.lol.lol.lol
YES I TOTALLY remember that song..we used to sing it on the bus in Summer Camp.

Sophie said...

I very much remember that song, fond memories associated with it, for sure! Banana peach apple sauce?! Wow, I wanna try that -- and this, crumbly things can be quite good--you can usually get away with putting more in your mouth at once :D.

Elyse said...

I never mind anything crumbly. If the taste is great, then that's what counts. Put the crumbles in a bowl with some vanilla ice cream and eat it with a spoon!! This bread sounds fabulous.

Anonymous said...

This bread sounds yummy.
And yes, I know the song...it was stuck in my head on a daily basis between my son's years 1 & 2. How about some ooples and banoonoos? :-)

Chef Fresco said...

Haha that song is now in my head, nice. Anyways, your bread looks yummy, crumbly and all.

kat said...

oh i can see this being a wonderful muffin

Bunny said...

Crumbly or not this would have made it to my mouth one way or another, but i do think you've got a good idea with the muffins!

oneordinaryday said...

I'm seeing mini muffins or mini loaves in this recipe's future. And I love that you snuck in some baby food puree. I do that sometimes too. Even when I make spaghetti sauce I've been known to pour in some Gerber spinach!

Emily said...

It sounds fruity and delicious. I love all of the sourdough baking you do.

Ohhh I remember that song. Rafi.

Donna-FFW said...

Crumbly is ok, I would use a spoon and scoop up that goodness.

pigpigscorner said...

Too bad it's crumbly, but just eat it with a spoon!

Shari said...

Looks delicious -- tastes delicious -- what's not to like? But muffins may be a great solution!

Jaime said...

wow can I have a slice?

Stacey said...

It looks amazing!!

How do you rehydrate dried apples? I have never heard of that!

Heather said...

those are the kinds of kitchen failures i hate the most! when it looks bad, i'm ok with it - but when it looks great and then falls apart... so sad. i always want to cry. have you ever seen national lampoons christmas vacation? i feel like that's a movie you would have seen. it's like when the redneck wife cuts into the turkey and it just deflates. so sad. sigh. this sounds delicious, though!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Haha I was just asking my hubby if he'd heard this song and he was looking at me like I was crazy and I'm pretty sure I uttered the words "I'm not crazy, I promise--there is a song!".

Great idea to do them as muffins although I would eat it with a spoon as I'd want to get this into my mouth asap.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Sprinkle it over ice cream or fruit and you have a wonderfully flavourful topping:D

Unknown said...

you always have the best and most interesting recipes.your baking style is truly original.this looks great!

pam said...

Crumbly or not, it sounds great! I would just shovel all those crumbs in my mouth and besides it saves all that chewing work.

Zoe said...

Yum! Using sourdough is such a good idea! I love that.

Lori said...

Perfect for trifle Grace! peach sauce...hmmm. I agree with Baking Monster, your style is original. I always like to see what you are up to.

Robin said...

Well at least it tasted good anyway. I mess up a lot but it tastes bad too and has to be tossed!

Culinary Wannabe said...

So I might be a little mad at you - that song is going to be in my head all day now!!! :)

Lindsey said...

Of course I remember that song - Raffi!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

I love those crumbly pieces that get left behind. This makes it seem like you're not eating so much just a crumb here or there so see even though I'm easting a slice it won't feel like a whole slice.
~ingrid

Pam said...

When my bread or muffins turn out crumbly, I toss them in a bowl and top them with ice cream or whipped cream and it makes a tasty treat!

Lisa said...

Sounds good anyway! I like Pam's idea. And I do remember that song...

Albany Jane said...

All of this sourdough goodness. One of these days, one of these days!

Hornsfan said...

I remember the song! Man oh man did my sister's love of Barney (where the song originates) kill me! This looks delish, can't wait to cook up some sourdough starter and mix up bread like this one.

♥Rosie♥ said...

Sounds like a great combination of ingredients! I also like Pams idea must remember that one ;0)

Julie said...

Looks yummy! I can just taste it covered with melty butter!
Oh yeah, I remember the banaynay song :)

Juliana said...

Crumbly...does not bother me...looks good and I am sure that taste great! Love the ingredients in it, specially the sourdough starter...I need to bust my courage to try to make the starter :-)

The Blonde Duck said...

Holy crap, brilliant idea--what about turning it into a strudel? With ice cream? And more apples and cinnamon? Oh sweet wounded WUFFFLEESSSSSS!

And about the apple pie of my eye, I'll have you know that even though good ol' AB didn't want cinnamon, I added it in. B/c it ain't apple pie without cinnamon.

Marjie said...

How about using chopped fresh apples? I remember the song, too, and would sure like some of this bread. With more cinnamon, of course.

Laura said...

I hate it when that happens (the falling apart thing).

You watch Lost, right? Whoa that finale was awesome!

La Bella Cooks said...

As long as it is tasty, you can easily overlook the crumbly!

Maria said...

Another great one! I wish I could have just one little crumb!

Deborah said...

that song brings back memories from jr high... As long as it tastes good, that's all that matters!!

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

I wonder why it crumbles so much but it looks delicious. Lot's of flavors in that bread.

Tabitha Blue said...

Crumbly but delish!! Looks yummy. Hope you licked the crumbs off the plate!

:)
~Tabitha~

freshmommyblog.com

Anonymous said...

I am so glad someone else remembers that song. I was singing it one day, and my husband thought I was crazy. He'd never heard it. I'm thinking maybe it's a Southern thing?

Oh, and your bread looks great, too!

Creative Classroom Core said...

As a mother of two little ones, I know just the song you are talking about!

Your recipes sounds fantastic! Yum!

Jacque said...

I love that song. I was singing it to my kids the other day and they didn't remember it from when they were little.

Anyway, darn that crumbly bread. It does sound good. I hope you get it figured out (so then I can try it, LOL).

LilSis said...

Ahhh!! That brings back some memories. I used to sing along with Barney to that song all the time back when my son repeatedly watched Barney videos. Of course, that was about 13 years ago.

The flavor combination in your bread sounds awesome. I love cinnamon, apples, & bananas, however, I'm not real good at baking, so it would probably be safer for me to make as muffins. I don't mind crumbly muffins.

foodhoe said...

well the pictures look good enough to eat and the flavors would defnitely be a delicious muffin. Heated with butter...

kellypea said...

My boys' fave was "ooples and banoonooz" but I guess you had to be there to think it was as hilarious as we did. ; ) Yes, please on a batch of this no matter how delicate. Wish I had a sourdough starter. My first attempt was a complete fail. ; (

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

Thanks.

Now I am stuck with that song in my head and a hankering for sourdough.
Once I get over the jet lag I will get the kudzu out:-)

Shelly said...

It still looks darn tasty to me! Yet another sourdough winner you've created :)

Chef Fresco said...

Crumbly or not it still sounds fantastic.

Tia said...

i love the picture showing all that texture on the loaf. mmmmm