Banana Yeast Bread
CATEGORIES
INGREDIENTS
  • /4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 cups bread flour, or more if needed
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
  • for the filling:
  • 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
DIRECTIONS
  1. Combine milk, 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar in a large glass measuring cup and heat about 90 seconds in the microwave or until the butter is almost completely melted. Stir well and transfer to the bowl of a mixer. Add yeast, bananas and 2 cups bread flour and mix on low speed for about 5 minutes. Mix in salt, eggs and another 2 cups flour until well combined then transfer to a glass bowl that is large enough for the dough to double in bulk. Add remaining 2 cups of flour to the dough in the bowl and knead 3 or 4 minutes to incorporate. Cover tightly with cling film and let rise 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
  2. Roll out the dough, 1/2 at a time, into 8 x 12-inch rectangles. Spread each half with 1/4 cup softened butter. Mix together 4 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle 2 tablespoons mixture over each dough rectangle. Starting at the short side roll up the dough jelly-roll side and tuck into a bread pan. Let rise 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
  3. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Bake bread 30-35 minutes until well browned and hollow-sounding when tapped. Cool 5 minutes in the pan then completely on a wire rack.
RECIPE BACKSTORY
I will watch just about anything on the Food Network and on one of Jamie Oliver's shows I saw him do a yeast version of banana bread. At that time you couldn't get his recipes online so I Googled yeast banana bread and created my own recipe based loosely on my search results. Betcha can't eat just one slice!