On the Table: Banana/Ginger/Plum Bread

I am not a baker by any means.  However, I recently got an idea for banana-ginger bread in my head, and I kept thinking about it until I finally tried to make the bread.  Baking requires pretty precise formulas, so I started by looking for a recipe for banana bread, thinking that I could just augment it with the ginger.  I found a recipe in The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion that looked fantastic.  It uses buttermilk (you can also use yogurt or sour cream), which I happened to have in the refrigerator, left over from making Fried Chicken Strips!  I also discovered that most of the bananas I bought earlier this week had mysteriously disappeared (eaten!), so I only had one left - and the recipe calls for 2-3 (one cup of mashed bananas).  I decided to use two Yellowgage plums (based on my Plum Taste Test, I thought these were the least amenable to eating plain - but that the nice soft flesh would be great cooked) in place of the missing banana(s).

To prepare:

Let the buttermilk and 2 eggs sit out for a little while before you get started - baking is better with room temperature ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease (or spray) and flour a 9x5 loaf pan.

In one bowl, whisk together (really well!) 2 and 2/3 cups of all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 of a teaspoon of nutmeg (I didn't really measure the cinnamon or nutmeg - you can eyeball those, but measure the others!).  I did not bother with sifting the ingredients together, though that is what the recipe said to do - the results seemed fine anyway :)

In another bowl, beat together 1 cup of sugar, 1/3 of a cup of canola oil, and 2 eggs.

Peel the banana, break it up into chunks, and add it to the (liquid-ingredient) bowl.  Cut the plums into pieces, remove the skin, and add those to the bowl as well.  Cut any really hard edges off a one inch piece of ginger and peel it (use the edge of a spoon to scrape off the skin - I promise, that's the easiest way!).

(I only used one of these pieces, though you could definitely use more - I got a little scared as I was adding it that the ginger would be overwhelming, but it wasn't.  The bread had a nice gingery bite, but you could add more without it being overwhelming.)

Grate the ginger into the (liquid-ingredient) bowl.

Add two teaspoons of vanilla extract.  I have no idea how much I actually added to the bowl, since I had a little accident and ended up with vanilla everywhere, but I was aiming for two teaspoons.  You have some room for flexibility though :)

Beat all the liquid ingredients together.  If you want a really smooth texture, you should probably mash up the banana and plums before adding them to the other ingredients.  I liked it a little chunky though, so I just let the beaters break them up as much as possible.

Now you need to combine the wet and dry ingredients.  I think you are supposed to add the dry to the wet, but I had the dry ingredients in a bigger bowl, so I went the other way.  Everything turned out fine!  I just dumped the liquid mixture onto the dry ingredients and got to stirring.  When the wet and dry ingredients are just combined, stir in one cup of buttermilk.  Add in a handful of walnuts (optional), and stir until everything is combined.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and cook in the preheated oven for about an hour, or until a toothpick/paring knife/cake tester stuck into the middle comes out clean.  I didn't need to do it, but if the top starts to get too brown, you can put some foil over the top.

Isn't it beautiful?  It was delicious, too.

Especially topped with some cream cheese!

Enjoy!