…to bring you these photos of the banana bread family – papa, mama, and baby banana bread. horray for finding mini loaf pans at the thrift store! and get the banana bread recipe right here!
this banana bread is too big, this banana bread is too small, but this banana bread is just right.
remember my banana bread recipe? chock full of warm-your-belly-and-soul-cinnamon-banana deliciousness? well, here we go again, except this time it’s savory zucchini-y goodness. this is one of those recipes that takes me back to my childhood kitchen, and it’s now become one of my 3-year-old nephew’s favorites (he calls it “kini bread”). and again, like the banana bread recipe, this is one you’ll be able to knock out in your sleep once you master it.
and now that i’ve told you how easy it is, i have a confession. i followed the recipe exactly, but my loaves somehow came up, well…short. literally. they didn’t collapse, but just came out about 1/2 the size they should have. i’m not sure if it had something to do with my baking powder or baking soda, but they didn’t hit more than 2 inches at their highest point.
luckily, the size did not affect the taste at all. the bread is still soft and moist, crumbly in just the right way, and surprisingly not too dense. now that i think about it, i may have been misled about how big these loaves should be. being a little shorter, they are much easier to handle, slice up and take on the go, which is great because i plan on eating a few slices while walking to work in the morning (as well as a few more for each meal of the day).
simple french baguettes were a mainstay in my kitchen growing up. slathered with butter, pieces were used to sop up every type of sauce imaginable.
it’s an all-purpose bread that can go with almost any meal. grab some cheese and have a picnic, toast it and add chopped tomato. the recipe itself is very simple, using a pre-fermented dough that gives the final bread the taste you would get from a professional bakery, who usually allow their dough to ferment for a longer period than the home baker.
the dough is just as versatile with shaping. we made two traditional long baguettes and one spiky ring (made simply by forming a baguette, snipping the sides with kitchen scissors and meeting the ends).
there’s something entrancing about the smell when you open the oven to these golden loaves of goodness. it recalls memories of hundreds of family dinners. get started tonight and begin making new memories tomorrow.
