What I've found a bit tricky though was measuring each ingredient in the exact amount as we would have done back home in beloved Philippines. Although we're grateful for our tiny, yet homey kitchen here in Moscow, where there's an old but well-maintained electric stove-top and a good-sized oven, it does not have the luxury of your kitchen baking implements like measuring spoons and cups, baking pans, mixing bowls, sifters, or an electric mixer. And I have been disciplining myself sa ngalan ng pagtitipid by not purchasing those extra kitchen tools. Most of these items are quite pricey here. Say, a good quality stainless steel set of measuring spoons is priced at Rub 2000 / USD 31 / PhP1440. But that must not hinder one's penchant for baking a basic home-cooked banana bread. Especially when you don't want to throw away over-ripe bananas seating at your kitchen for days. Decide to be so brave and face your fear of failing in this by just doing it. Improvisation and a little flexibility would come in handy.
We've always loved baking banana breads at home. It has become a family tradition of ours that at summer's end, when we get confined at home for the rainy days, we bake banana breads as an indication that we're welcoming the alternating season. We only stopped baking them a few years ago when we found out that my sister - in - love from Mindoro does it better than us! We immediately conceded as she spoiled us by sending us boxes of freshly baked banana breads to Batangas every so often.
We would store them in the fridge wrapped in aluminum foils which kept them fresh for weeks. Her secret recipe, which is not secret anymore as of this writing, is on the type of bananas that she used to bake with. The saging na saba ( ! ) which were locally grown in Mindoro, the province which is billed as The Fruit Basket of the Philippines. I took this picture 5 years ago to wit, I wash the bread in a cup of coffee for afternoon merienda, a ritual to most Pinoys.
Here in Moscow, it's still the summer season but we're counting the days till autumn. It's our banana breads season again just like when we're home, only this time, we will have to bake them again by ourselves, no boxes of banana breads will be sent to us for now, because ate Syl is million miles away. We will have to make the most out of what we have here like these frozen bananas from Ecuador. Wait. Don't judge these frozen bananas by their appearance. They're equally sweet and nutritious. I had to freeze them in order to benefit from all the natural oils that they will yield in frozen temp especially their peelings. The best time to take them out of the freezer is at night time so you'll get nice and soft, helpless bananas the next morning.
See the natural oils that oozed out of the banana peelings? We are after that because that will give the bread its natural sweet flavor and aroma that's distinctly banana-ish. How about the banakal that The Boy was too careful to include in the mixture? That's for added flavor and fibers as well.
Super Easy Banana Bread Recipe Ingredients:
Wet:
4 pieces of over-ripe bananas, frozen then thawed overnight
2 medium - sized eggs
1 stick of softened butter
Dry:
1 cup of brown sugar
2 cups of flour
2 tsps of fast-acting yeast
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of salt
Now, for the Procedure as shown in photos.
Mash the bananas.
Add the 2 eggs, one at a time.
Add in the softened butter. Allow me to share one tip when using softened butter in this recipe. Do.not.soften.it.in.the.microwave. I've been warned by The Daughter several times not to do it in that manner because she had a bad experience with this before. She told me to just let it soften on its own for about an hour in room temp. But I am an awesome mother and the microwave oven was beckoning.
Nice try, my Boy. If not for the butter that I stubbornly softened in the microwave because of my excitement to see you bake. Your sister said, "Mom, you've been warned about the butter." So, again, my tip for this recipe is to just let the butter soften in room temp for an hour. Have patience and stay away from the microwave oven. I am awesome. You've been warned.
Don't be intimidated by what you see on Youtube or Pinterest where some celebs would tend to complicate and over-do a rather easy recipe. Just get the inspiration, copy the ones that will work for you, or perhaps even do it a little better, but be sure to keep it real, simple, doable, and authentic. Must I forget that I am talking about prepping a banana bread and not about our own homeschooling, haha. The same principles may apply!
We're living in a glorious information age when anyone can be adept in many different things with just a click of a finger. The word "original" had taken on a whole new meaning. So, I can't say this is my own original recipe. This banana bread recipe has been the outcome of our gleanings on the internet. We've copied the ones that would work for us, tweaked some on the sugar and fat contents, we kept it simple, doable, and authentic so much so that even a 10 year-old boy can single-handedly do it! While The stage Mom sat on the sidelines to take pictures, quietly. Then comes the "ownership" part. We own the experience. We own the memories. We own the afternoon merienda of freshly baked banana bread which we hope to share our loved-ones back home, even so with just words and pictures. And guess what? You can own it, too. And I bet you can do it even better. Have fun!
