Sourdough Banana Bread

It seems like banana consumption goes in spurts at my house. We usually shop on Sunday, and some weeks they're gone by Wednesday. Other weeks, on Saturday, there's half a bunch still sitting there overripe. They go into the freezer. Every so often, I'll have one in a smoothie. Sometimes another recipe comes up and having a supply of overripe bananas comes in handy. I do love myself a Doctor Bird Cake, and this Sweet Potato OatmealCasserole was delicious (and easily modified for non-vegans)

Recently, though, they've been getting frozen faster than I can use them. So I decided to knock out a few of them and use the sourdough starter at the same time: Sourdough Banana Bread.

A quick internet search yielded a couple easy recipes. The first two were almost identical, except one called for half a cup of shortening and the other only a third of a cup. Even though it only saves about 20 calories in a one-inch slice, I went with the lower fat option. To me, it adds up.

I took a baggie with 3 bananas in it out of the freezer and let them thaw in the fridge overnight. The only thing I don't like with frozen bananas is that they ooze a brown liquid. My guess is that's because ice crystals rupture the cells, allowing the juices to flow out. However, it makes them a bazillion times easier to mash – no food processor needed. I just mash the baggie until no big chunks remain.

Anyway, the recipe I used:

Sourdough Banana Bread

Taken from TheFreshLoaf.com

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup sourdough starter
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla or 1 tsp grated orange rind

Cream together the shortening and sugar, add egg, and mix until blended. Stir in bananas and sourdough starter.

Add orange rind or vanilla. Sift flour, measure again with salt, baking powder, and soda. Add flour mixture and walnuts to the first mixture, stirring just until blended.

Pour into greased 9x5" loaf pan. Bake in moderate or 350 oven for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool before slicing.

If there's one thing about banana bread that I like better than the taste, it's the smell. I find it heavenly. This one certainly smelled perfect, and it tasted darn good too. Two thumbs up. The lower fat recipe is just right. No alterations needed whatsoever.

Although, I have a bag of almonds in the freezer I need to use...but maybe that needs to wait until the bananas pile up again.