Maple Oat Banana Bread

I swear everyone has been up on the banana bread game since shelter in place started. My family tasked me with making Japanese milk bread this week, but I haven’t been able to find yeast in the grocery store (thank you COVID-19 bakers), so I decided to start my quarantine baking streak with a quick bread.

A quick bread is a bread baked immediately after ingredients are mixed, so unlike yeast breads there is no waiting time for the fermentation of yeast. Quick breads are leavened during the baking process with air, steam, and /or CO2, often produced through the action of baking soda or backing powder.

Don’t worry Aunt Wendy, Milk bread is definitely next on the list as soon as I can find yeast.

Now, banana bread is a quick bread, and the key to a good quick bread is NOT over-stirring. The key is to mix only until dry ingredients are moistened (approximately 10 strokes), avoiding undesirable gluten development. Over mixing will result in a denser finished bread, which is especially true for banana bread, which already tends to be a slightly denser bread due to the wetness of the ingredients used.

Maple Oat Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 very ripe bananas mashed + 1 for garnish
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup (honey can be substituted in a pinch)
• 1/4 cup canola oil or olive oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tbs. plain Greek yogurt (optional)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Oil or butter your bread pan.

Mash those bananas until nice and smooth.

In a large miking bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, oats, and salt.

In another bowl whisk oil, eggs, syrup, milk, yogurt, bananas, and vanilla extract until smooth (as smooth as possible with the banana lumps).

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just incorporated (approximately 10 strokes). Add in chocolate chips

Decorate with either an extra banana if you have one or extra oats sprinkled on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately an hour and 15 minutes until top is a nice golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This will depend on the oven temperature and pan size.