Saturday Mornings and Sour Cream Banana Bread

Saturday mornings have a special place in my heart...

... And a special place in my menu plan! Saturday morning is when I set aside time to do some baking, and today it was banana bread. I've had some bananas on the counter for *several* days, and today was the "make banana bread or throw these away!" day. So I made banana bread.

A close friend gave me a recipe for Sour Cream Banana Bread, and I've been intending to try it for a while, but never had an extra half cup of sour cream on hand to make it. But today I did, so we tried it... and it is AMAZING. 

Now this is a very simple, basic banana bread. No fussy substitutions. No chocolate or nuts to distract you from the delicious banana flavor. Just a hint of cinnamon to give it some spice, and some sour cream to make it super soft.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

(Recipe adapted from Food.com found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/sour-cream-banana-bread-9351)

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3)

1/2 cup sour cream

• In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients. 
• In same medium bowl (that you just emptied), peel and mash up the bananas. 
• Add bananas and sour cream to mixture and stir until combined. 
• Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 F for 60 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Now, quick-breads such as banana bread are *supposed* to be cooled, wrapped in plastic wrap, and set aside overnight before serving. We don't do that in our house. We did cool it enough so that no one ended up with burnt fingers, but within a few minutes of slicing, we only had half of the loaf left!

To quote the wise Andy Taylor, "Eating speaks louder than words!" The Munchkin was pretty silent while he devoured his first piece, and the Hubby and I made short work of our slices, too.

The sour cream makes this bread extra moist, while the outer crust still has a fabulous slight crunch to it. Mmmm. Maybe I'll have another piece...

This will not replace my typical go-to recipe for banana bread, but if I have rotting bananas and sour cream on hand at the same time... you can bet I'll be making this again. 

No-Knead Salt Rise Bread

Have I mentioned before that I love Pinterest? Well I do. Since I've joined I spend much more time doing domestic-y things. Just ask the hubby!

Now, I know that not everyone actually does 100% of the things that they 'pin.' If they are honest, in all reality it's probably more like 5-10%.

But when all of your friends are pinning about all of these wonderful crazy things that you never bothered to try before, you start to think, "hey, even I can make my own taco seasoning!" and other such nonsense.

So, without further ado...

Today I was inspired to bake the bread recipe found here.

Now, I have a bread machine. It is one of my favorite things in my kitchen. If I had to choose, I would keep it over my crockpot (and that's saying something!). So I can make bread in an hour, without kneading anything. Why would I need to try any other ways to make bread, you ask?

Because this bread is CHEAP.

Bread machine recipes require quite a bit of yeast, especially if you use the quick recipes.

This recipe only requires

3 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 cups water

And that's IT. Well, there is the additional flour required to keep the dough from sticking to your counter. But it still comes out a lot cheaper than recipes that require cooking oil, butter, or additional yeast. And, even though it takes a long time from start to finish, it's really easy to make. (See end of post for a copy/paste version of the recipe!)

First, mix up all your dry ingredients in a bowl. Add water and mix until dough forms a messy ball. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for 12-18 hours (do NOT refrigerate).

Preheat oven to 450. Once oven is hot, place a crock or dutch oven with a lid into the oven for 30 minutes. (I've discovered that one of my Fiesta Ware platters fits the top of my small crockpot perfectly!)

While your pot is heating, dump the dough out onto a heavily floured surface, shape into a ball, and let sit.

Remove the pot from the oven, take off the lid, and transfer the dough to the pot. Replace the lid, and bake the whole thing for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, and bake the pot and bread for an additional 15 minutes.

Take pot and bread out of the oven and carefully transfer the bread to a cooling rack. Let fully cool before slicing. This part is the hardest, because it smells and sounds (crusty is a sound!) amazing.

Here's the recipe for those who want to copy and paste. Or you can go print off the original directions from this blog

No-Knead Salt Rise Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon yeast

1 1/2 cups water

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add water and mix until dough forms a messy ball. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for 12-18 hours (do NOT refrigerate). 
2. Preheat oven to 450. Once oven is hot, place a crock or dutch oven with a lid into the oven for 30 minutes. 
3. While your pot is heating, dump the dough out onto a heavily floured surface, shape into a ball, and let sit for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the pot from the oven, take off the lid, and transfer the dough to the pot. Replace the lid, and bake the whole thing for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, and bake the pot and bread for an additional 15 minutes. 
5. Take pot and bread out of the oven and carefully transfer the bread to a cooling rack. Let fully cool before slicing.