Baking, Sunday style
Monday, September 10, 2007 at 6:46PM 
After weeks of a heat that turned once-lush lawns to straw, this past Sunday dawned misty and gray. A constant drizzle pattered its way through the leaves, and the mercifully cool air smelled of damp earth.
It was a day to spend indoors, in the comfortable routine of business about the house, getting bits and pieces in order and lazily flipping through the weekend newspapers. By far, my favourite sort of day.
As far as food went, our menu was decided by consensus - following only our inclinations without worry of schedules or agenda. Immediate and extended family members stopped by for a cup of of tea, a chat or general diversion.
Some time in the early afternoon I caught wind of collected whispers, mentioned cravings for something as a snack, a cake perhaps. Nothing decadent, just a nibble of something a bit sweet.
Banana bread; this old fashioned loaf seemed the perfect fit for a rain-soaked Sunday afternoon. Studded with moist chunks of banana, their richness undercut by the acid twang of yogurt, this was the sort of loaf that sits on the counter with a knife nearby. For the remainder of the day we snacked, coming back for another slice, another crumb, whenever temptation arose.
Yogurt banana bread
This recipe yields a meltingly moist loaf with a cake-like texture. However it may look though, do not be fooled. This bread is not the overly sweet, dessert variety. The perfect partner to coffee, it is much more subtle in its charm.
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 large, ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup well-drained yogurt (see note)
4 1/2 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly butter a standard, 9"x5"x3" loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, salt, baking powder and spices.
In another bowl, mix the yogurt and banana together until well blended. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until light and fluffy. It should take 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, with the mixer on medium speed and beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat to combine.
Add half the flour mixture to the butter, beating on medium-low until blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the bananas and sour cream, beating until distributed. Add in the remaining flour, still stirring on medium-low until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
Bake in a preheated oven for about 1 hour and 10-15 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean the bread pulls away from the side of the pan. Cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out to a rack to cool completely.
Makes 1 loaf.
Notes:
• I used well-drained 1% yogurt.
• For the loaf pictured, the pan was the darker metal kind. For that reason, I reduced the oven temperature by about 15 degrees F to keep the exterior tender and golden. If this is the case with yours, you may need to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
Reader Comments (14)
Mmm - that looks extremely moist. Yum.
Seeing as I keep finding overly ripe bananas in my fruit bowl these days, I am happy to have another recipe to employ to use them up! I love the idea of using yogurt in this, seems to add a little bit of healthy goodness, doesn't it!
Mm, banana and yogurt sound like a wonderful combination, and like you, I'm much more for the subtly-sweet kind of banana breads. Beautiful plates, by the way!
The way you describe fall it almost makes me look forward to it. I've been resisting the allure thus far.
Kevin, it is a very moist bread, but surprisingly sturdy.
Michèle, yogurt, banana AND whole wheat, you can feel positively virtuous as you nibble.
Melissa, I do believe you'd enjoy this one. The bread really is yogurty - in the best way possible. And thank you for the mention of the plates; the pattern is a favourite of mine, Tree of Kashmir from Paragon.
tea, as much as I've heaped praise on these past few sun-filled months, there is something so fresh about this change in weather that I'm embracing the season whole-heartedly.
Your cake looks delicious. I will try it soon--just looking at my very ripe bananas is a great reminder.
Do anyone go to church on Sundays anymore? Jancd
what a beautiful image. i too made banana bread this weekend, it is the perfect sunday afternoon snack.
There is nothing better than a moist banana bread! I bought a banana bread from the bakery the other day and it was terribly dry that I had to throw it out! This looks fabulous though...so yogurt's the secret, eh?
I have a bag full of over-ripe bananas ready to use for this lovely recipe! It sounds wonderful and looks so moist!
Sorry this comment is probably late - but I am having a lazy Sunday today, the weather is perfect Lazy-Sunday for Melbourne and looking at you banana bread makes me drool. P.s luved your plateware setting.
Cheers
I love banana bread and have never tried baking it with yogurt - recipe tagged!
I guess it is time to delete my bookmark for your blog.
you seem to be gone without even bothering to say goodbye
oh, well
it was nice while it lasted, hope all is well with you
This tastes good, but my bread collapsed after taking it out of the oven. The top and sides basically unattached to the middle. I think the dough is possibly too liquid, may turn out better with a bit more flour.
There are also a couple of errors in your recipe; forgetting to mention the addition of baking soda and accidentally saying sour cream instead of yogurt. I knew what you meant, but just wanted to point it out :)
Aside from all this, it tastes great. So thank you very much for the post!
Hallo,
thank for the recipe, I tried it last saturday and it was delicious!
I blogged about it in my blog (with a link to your blog obviously), I hope you don't mind!
I'm totally going to try other recipes you post, I like them!!
Thank you!