Jada’s banana bread
It has been a month now since we have settled in Houston. Our apartments kitchen is poorly equipped with baking appliances which made me miss my kitchen deeply.
There's nothing could absorb my stress like baking and with that being said.
I started searching through the internet for a place Where I can practice my therubatic hobby and after spending the night searching the destiny led me to urban chef kitchen.
jada, the executive chef who greeted me with her glowing smile and her contagious enthusiasm warmed my heart like a ray of sunshine in a winter day.
she walked me through kitchen, enormous fridges standing in pride against the wall, a tabletop lined up with kitchen aids stand mixer like soldiers ready to march.
and freshly baked banana bread resting on top of the stove.
“oh, here let me cut a slice for you, tea or coffee ?'“ said jada gleefully
“coffee” I replied without hesitating.
we sat on dining room table…jada started talking about herself but i wasn’t paying attention because the aroma scent of the banana was louder if it was a sound.
The fork couldn’t stand the tenderness of the banana bread, I had my first bite and took me back to my old neighborhood when I was ten.
under the neem trees whispering standing next to my old rustic derwaza door of my house with my hands slightly covered in grains of sand holding a banana wafer, and munching it slowly enjoying the aroma of the banana.
and suddenly “did you hear what I said ? “ jada asked gleefully
“erm sorry …what was that?” I replied in shame
“you really enjoyed the banana , do you ?” jada asked with a big smile on her face
“can I have the recipe please” I begged.
Ingredients:
(250g) 2 cup All Purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
(200g) 1 cup sugar
(60g) 1/4 cup melted butter
2 large eggs
(75g) 1/3 cup buttermilk or laban
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon from vanilla extract or paste (good quality).
(300g) 1 cup mashed banana ( 2 ripe bananas)
(75g) 3/4 cup blueberries
(30g) 1/2 cup shredded coconut
Topping:
(50g) 1\4 cup brown sugar
(25g) two tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
pinch of salt
(60g) 1\4 of unsalted butter (melted)
(78g) 2\3 cups + 1 teaspoon all purpose flour.
Preheat the oven to 350f/180c Grease and line 9 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. set a side
to make topping:
Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt together in a medium bowl.
stir in melted butter, by using a fork mix in flour lightly to resemble crumbs but don’t over mix. cover and place it in a fridge to firm up.
In bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl coat blueberries with 2 tablespoons of flour mixture to avoid sinking in the bottom of the batter while baking..
On a large bowl whisk together the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until combined.
Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition until well combined
whisk in in the mashed bananas for 30 seconds or until well combined
By using spatula Fold in the buttermilk and vanilla for 30 seconds or until well combined
fold in the flour mixture in batches until well combined.
gently fold in blueberries & coconut, Pour the batter into prepared pan and top it with crumbs for bake 50 - 60 minuets. until skewers inserted comes out with few crumbs.
Let it rest with on a wire rack before slicing for 1 hour
notes:
you can reduce the quantity of the blueberries or omit it, whatever you prefer will not harm the final result.
for more flavor, toast the shredded coconut on a dry pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the color turn into golden yellow, watch carefully you don’t want it to be burned.
if the crumb started to brown so fast, cover it with aluminum foil.
