Banana Monkey Bread

I love monkey bread!! I haven't made it for quite awhile and I wanted to try out a new recipe, something a bit different from the usual monkey bread. I was searching all over the net but most of the recipes use the canned dough, which they don't sell in the UK, or dough that has yeast and needs time to rise. I knew I wanted to make the dough from scratch and if I found a no yeast dough recipe that would be a bonus as we had friends coming over and wanted this to be baked in time. I found the perfect recipe and couldn't wait to try it out. I really enjoyed making this recipe. It came together so easily and making the banana filled dough parcels and dipping them in the sugar was fun. Once popped in the oven, I started smelling the cinnamon aroma coming from the kitchen. I have an addiction to cinnamon... love it! This monkey bread turned out great. The bread was moist and with the banana filling baked in the center of each little ball it really took this classic recipe to the next level. We all loved it and our friends even took some home with them. Try this recipe out! Now I need to come up with a savory version!

Recipe inspired by a Yahoo! Voices contributor

Ingredients:
Dough:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup stoneground wholemeal flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup milk

Banana Filling:
1 large ripe banana
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp sugar

Coating:
1/2 brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Steps:
Preheat oven to 175C/350F and grease a bundt pan. COATING: In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. BANANA FILLING: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mash until combined. DOUGH: In a large bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt until thoroughly combined. Add in the softened butter and mix until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add in the milk and mix on a higher speed until the dough just comes together. Knead in your stand mixer or on a lightly floured surface and knead for about a minute and the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Shape the dough into an 8inch by 8inch square about 1/2inch thick. Cut into 16 equal squares. Take one square and flatten it slightly with your fingers. Place 1tsp of the banana filling in the middle and seal by grabbing each corner together. Dip the dough ball into the sugar coating and place into the bundt pan. Repeat until the first layer has 8 dough balls and sprinkle with half of the sugar coating. Repeat with the remaining 8 dough squares to create a second layer and sprinkle with the remaining sugar coating. Bake for 35 minutes and remove from oven. Pour melted butter over the top while the bread is still in the bundt pan. Let the bread cool for 5 minutes in the bundt pan. Place a plate of top of the pan and turn over.

I have also submitted this to April's AlphaBakes hosted by
The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes.

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Weekend Baking: Part 2 - Olive Bread Swirls

Even though this is part two of my weekend baking, I actually started making this first before the Cheesy Bonfire Bread. I loved the idea of it the moment I saw them on the BBC GoodFood site. They look just like cinnamon rolls but are a savory version called Olive Bread Swirls. I was a bit more worried about making this as it involved yeast and needed to sit around to rise quite a bit. I was afraid it wouldn't rise but as you can see in the picture that it did, in fact it doubled in size! As I don't have my stand mixer yet, I kneaded this for 10 minutes by hand. It reminded me of being a kid and playing with play-dough. I really enjoyed making it and watching it rise. I will have to practice the part where you roll the filling in it, to try to get more perfect swirls, but I was really happy with how they turned out. They tasted lovely straight out of the oven. It would be nice served with marinara sauce or some garlic butter to dip it in. This completes recipe 100 of "My 100" list.

Recipe

Courtesy of BBC GoodFood

Ingredients: 

500g strong white flour, plus extra for rolling

1 tsp salt

7g sachet easy-blend dried yeast 

6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus a little for brushing

small bunch of basil 

170g pitted kalamata olives (about 200g unpitted weight)

1 garlic clove, crushed 

50g pitted green olives 

Steps:

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, yeast, 1 tbsp olive oil and 300ml warm water, to make a soft dough. Knead by hand for 10 mins or with the dough hook in a food processor or mixer for 5 mins. Put the dough back in the cleaned out mixing bowl, then cover the bowl with oiled cling film. Leave to rise for an hr in a warm place until doubled in size.
2. Meanwhile, make the filling. Discard any tough basil stalks (leave tender ones on) and put in a mini food processor or hand blender beaker with the black olives. Add 4 tbsp olive oil, the garlic and the anchovies, if using. Whizz to a rough paste.
3. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan. Line a shallow baking tin about 30 x 20cm with non-stick paper. On a floured worktop, roll out the dough to a rectangle roughly 30 x 40cm. Spread the olive paste all over and arrange the whole green olives in a line down one of the short edges. Roll up the dough like a Swiss roll, starting at the short olive-encrusted end to make a sausage shape.
4. Cut the dough into 12 slices, then carefully lift each one into the tin, to make 4 rows of 3 swirl shapes. Lightly brush all over with the remaining olive oil. Loosely cover with cling film, then leave to rise for 20 mins or so, until slightly puffed up and filling the tin. Cook for 20-25 mins until golden, then leave to cool in the tin. 

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Weekend Baking: Part 1 - Cheesy Bonfire Bread

I decided to bake some bread recipes this weekend. I found two recipes on the BBC GoodFood website that I wanted to make ever since I added them to "My 100" list. We were having a chilled out evening with one of our friends and planned on snacking all night. They wanted a rustic type bread so I thought this Cheesy Bonfire Bread recipe would be great to try out. I had fun baking this one. The only other bread I have baked before was Banana Bread, which is a completely different process. I really enjoyed kneading the dough, mixing in the chargrilled peppers, cheese and pumpkin seeds.  It was very easy to make and the flavour was great. It tasted great with some onion chutney spread on it. I will be making this one again to enjoy by a bonfire or as we did last night by our chimnea. This recipe completes recipe 99 of "My 100" list.

Recipe

Courtesy of BBC GoodFood

Ingredients: 

200g wholemeal flour

200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

2tsp cream of tartar

1tsp salt

25g butter, melted

300ml milk, at room temperature

175g cheddar, coarsely grated

3tbsp pumpkin seeds

85g chargrilled peppers from a jar, drained and chopped

Steps:

1. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and make a large well in the middle. Combine the melted butter and milk, then pour into the well. Mix to a soft dough.
2. Dust the work surface with flour. Add most of the cheddar, 2 tbsp of the pumpkin seeds and the chopped peppers to the dough. Gently knead to combine on the floured surface. Divide into 8 lumps and shape into rough rounds two finger-widths deep.
3. Place the pieces side by side on a floured baking sheet, scatter the remaining cheddar and pumpkin seeds over the top and bake for 30 mins until golden brown and the cheese is bubbling. Cool on a wire rack and eat while warm. BQVN4DD8UR7G

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Some Of My Past Baking

I was having a browse through my pictures and found some from when I have baked in the past. Most of the pictures were taken with my mobile phone, so not the best quality. I have added a link to some of the pictures below. I wish I would have taken more pictures but will do for any future baking!

Monkey Bread

Shane's 25th birthday cake 2010 (Tunnel of Fudge)

Flapjack

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Love making and eating Chocolate Pretzels

Mum-In-Law's birthday cake 2010

Vegan Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes

Vegan Marbled Cupcakes

Cinnabon Cake - Blobs

I love Baking!

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Banana Bread!

I'm not sure where I got this recipe but have being using it for years to make Banana Bread. This banana bread is really GOOD! You have to try this recipe out, it is very simple. 

Ingredients:

• Ripe Bananas (450g)
• Self-raising Flour (225g)
• Sugar (140g)
• Butter (110g)
• 2 Medium Eggs
• 1/2 tsp of Salt

Equipment:

• Large Mixing Bowl
• Non-stick Bread Tin
• Fork

Steps:  

1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C
2. Grease the bread tin with butter
3. Mash the bananas in mixing bowl with fork 
4. Now add the rest of the ingredients to the mixing bowl  
5. Mix until everything is combined.
6. Pour mixture into the bread tin
7. Place in center of oven
8. Cook for 45 to 50 minutes
9. Test by inserting a skewer into the middle of bread. If it comes out clean the bread is done. If it has wet bread stuck to it, cook for a further ten minutes and then test again.
10. Let cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then take out to cool on a wire rack.

 Enjoy!

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