Browned Butter Banana Bread: SHV

I love banana bread, but in looking for ways to make my usual recipe healthier, I've become obsessed with pumping up the flavour but maintaining the moisture, which is key to a good loaf. Nobody likes a sawdust-y bite of anything. I am going to be browning the butter first, as that gives it a nutty taste and hopefully another layer of flavour without actually adding all those really healthy but really calorific nuts. I am also going to use as much smushed banana as I can. And we're away!

Tuesday: Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf

The tricky bit with lower calorie loaves of meat is that they can be a little bit dry. Here I added in spinach and grated carrot and onion, they add a nice moistness and slip my family some veggies at the same time. Win win! Also surprisingly yummy cold. In a sandwich with a tiny bit of mayo, raw onion and some pepper - amazing! And yes, it is miserable here again, so we get the non-grilled meal. One day it will be nice and there will be BBQ!

You will need:

2 tsp butter
1 large onion (or two small)
1 small carrot
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 c fresh spinach
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
Salt, pepper
2 slices whole wheat bread, not fresh - or maybe Whole Grain Whole Wheat??
2 Tbsp ketchup
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Grate your onion(s) and carrot into a non-stick saucepan. Add in butter and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for just one more minute. Just ONE!

Remove to a bowl, let cool. Add three tablespoons of water to the hot pan, cook the spinach until it wilts, under a minute.

Remove to a cutting board, let cool and then mince finely. I know, you could cut up the spinach before you wilt it, but then all the green stuff ends up on my board and I like it to be in my belly.

Tear the bread into chunks and whirl in a food processor until reduced to small crumbs.

Small-ish, anyway

Dump the turkey, thyme, sage, salt, pepper and egg in a bowl.

Cover with the breadcrumbs, then onion mixture, then spinach and ketchup. Mix together, using a spatula orrrr, the best mixer of all, yer fingers:

It's like a spa for your hands

Add the Parmesan cheese last, give it a quick grope and scrape it all into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, checking to make sure it has reached an internal temperature of 180 degrees before removing.

Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then place on a plate. Remove the paper and slice into 4 servings.

Soo much less cleaning

I came up with 250 calories per serving, once I added some asparagus and a half cup of brown rice, I was nicely within the Weight Wise 400-500 calorie meal recommendation.

Enjoy!

Whole Grain Whole Wheat Bread

One of the things I learned at Weight Wise is that whole grain flour is better for you than whole wheat. In that whole grain flour uses all three parts of the grain, as opposed to white, which only uses one and the misleadingly named whole wheat, which uses two parts. I am all for more fibre and they will pry carbs and gluten from my cold dead hands so I thought I would give it a try.

My usual bread recipe is the Tassajara bread recipe and is so amazing that I figured it would adapt to a heavier flour with pas de probleme. Nooot edzachary. After some tinkering, I was able to get a nice, dense loaf that slices well and is a true whole grain loaf. With a little bit of multi-grain flour for colour.

Stage One: The Sponge

3 1/2 c warm water (85-105 degrees - I like 95 and I use a thermometer, but a normal person could just use the inside of their wrist and go with warm-ish)
1 1/2 to 2 1/4 Tbsp active dry yeast (2-3 packages, not instant) - if you use the higher amount it will rise super fast, so keep an eye on it
1/4 c honey or sugar (honey of course)
1 c skim milk powder (still working on replacing that with scalded skim milk, texture not there just yet)
2 c multi-grain bread flour
2 c whole grain whole wheat flour (Rogers makes it, available at Sobey's, Safeway)

Preheat your oven to it's lowest setting for one minute; turn OFF. Pour the warm water into a large bowl, sprinkle on the yeast.

Looks a little Map-of-the-World if the whole world were beige, right?

Add in everything else, and start stirring slowly. When all is somewhat combined, start stirring clockwise for 100 strokes. Oh yes. 100 big ones. I suggest an enormous spatula and an enormous bowl, because that is how I roll.

Cover your bowl with plastic wrap, place in your warmed oven for 45 minutes. If you did not use an enormous bowl, check it after 30 minutes. I hate it (yes, I said "hate") when the dough rises and touches the plastic wrap; that is dough that has to be discarded and therefore will not be in my belly.

Once it is nice and gooey, take it out of the oven, which you should now warm for one more minute at it's lowest setting. Move to Stage Two!

Stage Two: Goo to Kneading

1 Tbsp salt
1/3 c melted butter or vegetable oil (one caveat: when I use the melted butter, I occasionally end up with a much crumbier loaf)
Up to 4 c whole grain whole wheat flour

Start folding in your ingredients, salt first, then oil, then gradually add in the flour, cup by cup. You do not want to add more than 3 cups during this part; save the last cup for kneading.

Sprinkle some of that last cup of flour onto your kneading surface; dump on zee dough. I find it is more like scrape your dough onto the counter, but whatever works. Have I mentioned how I think spatulas are the best things ever? Because they totally are.

I found this part to be really subjective based on each particular batch of dough. Keep an eye on how moist your dough feels while kneading; you never want it to be dry. You want it to be in that sweet spot between not sticky and dry. Start with small amounts of flour added to the top; fold the top over to incorporate, then fold out what squishes out the sides into the middle. Repeat for about 5 minutes, up to 10 anyways, if you are feeling all hardcore. Shape it into a nice round ball.

Spray the same bowl with oil, plunk your rounded lovely dough into the middle and cover with a slightly damp tea towel. You know what is amazing for making a tea towel slightly damp? A misting bottle! Because yes, a too damp towel bothers me.

Place in your re-warmed oven (because you totally did that right??) and let rise for 50 minutes.

Punch it down, gently, and place back in the oven for 40 more minutes. On to Stage Three!!

Lots of finesse, no Conan

Till it knuckles under

Stage Three: Dough to Bread

1 egg
1 Tbsp milk (dealers choice, whateveryagot)

Spray two loaf pans with oil; I like the ones below because they are massive and the finish is superb. Dump your dough out onto your counter; shape back into a ball and cut in half.

Round it up again and cover them with the damp cloth and let them sit for 5 minutes to get over the trauma. I always use a dough scraper for this part, mostly because it is awesome-sauce at scraping up random flour and dough bits after, but you could also use a long knife.

Does that look...offensive?

In recovery

Take each ball and knead with your right hand, folding over with your left. Do this 6 times and fold it over itself, pinching the seams together.

Open in the top! Mreep Mreep!

Whew! Pinched in

Set it seam-side-up into a loaf pan, pushing with your knuckles into the corners. Flip it over and knuckle some more until it looks relatively even.

Do the same with the second ball; let sit covered in that same towel for 25 minutes while you pre-heat your oven.

When the dough has risen and is over the edge of the pan, slice two evenly spaced crescents across the top of the loaf. This is for venting, so you want to be about 1/2 inch deep so you don't blow out the sides.

It's for the greater good

Mix your egg and milk together and brush allll over the loaf. Sprinkle with your favourite random grain or seed; whereas I typically use sesame seeds for my usual recipe, I decided to use cracked wheat. Just so I can tell in the freezer which one I got. Other ideas: pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds. Hmm, those are all seeds. Get freaky in the bulk food aisle!

Bake for 25 minutes; rotate your pans and bake for another 25. Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy!!

This is sort of like the centerfold of a food magazine. This bread likes butter, jam, smiley carb-addicts and rainy days, which are the best  for baking! 

The sunlit beach photo

A closeup of the goods

Closer...

And we're all up in it

The denouement

Equipment Corner

Amazon has very graciously allowed me to provide links for the products that I like and use; lookit!



I wasn't able to find my exact enormous bowl, as it was a gift from my mom, and my hooge spatula is from a restaurant supply store, but this is a larger version of my favourite. And my favourite. Yay for kitchen supplies!

Wednesday Bonus: Lemon Loaf

This is something I used to make for my sister-in-law, as she is a big lemon-lover. I prefer this for winter, as a lemon tart can seem just a little chilly right about now. It's lovely warm from the oven, but I think I like it better the next day. Avec butter schmear.

You will need:

1 3/4 c pastry flour (I've used 1 2/3 c all-purpose and it's fine, just not as cake-like)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cardamom (note: if grinding fresh, remove husks and just do seeds, cause nobody likes husk flakes in a nice loaf. no. body. If you haven't had fresh-ground cardamom, you have not lived)
1 large lemon (room temperature)
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/2 c butter (UNsalted), softened
1 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
2/3 c milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

All you need

Preheat oven to 350F. Thoroughly grease a loaf pan and cover the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Grease that too. Grease it right up. Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom into a medium-sized bowl or in a large-ish measuring cup; stir together with a fork. Using a zester or fine grater grate the peel of your lemon and stir it into the flour mixture. Set aside. Squeeze out 3 tablespoons lemon juice and stir with the ¼ cup sugar. Set aside to use as glaze.

Ready to roll

2  Place the butter and 1 cup sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until combined, add in the eggs. Then, gradually, beat in one-third of the flour mixture, followed by ^1/3 cup milk. Repeat, ending with remaining third of flour mixture. I know a lot of recipes that call for milk can result in a tough dough, but not this one. Beat in the vanilla; pour into the prepared loaf pan. 

Zest and cardamom smells amazing

Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the centre of the loaf to the bottom of pan comes out clean. Remove the loaf from the oven, leave it in the pan and place the pan on a rack. Make sure you have a piece of wax paper under your rack as you will immediately drizzle half the lemon glaze over the top of the hot loaf. Let sit 10 minutes, then drizzle with remaining lemon mixture. Let sit another 10 minutes, then turn loaf out of the pan and finish cooling on the rack. 

I forgot, you can't cut it until it is completely cooled. Very crumby

Enjoy!