When I came home this weekend, I had a lot of pleasant surprises waiting for me. I had 5 packages in! One was from Chad Lawson, who generously gave me his CD, "Set on a Hill". It's an album full of beautiful and soothing solo piano music. I'm really happy that he remembered. I wish I could give back to him in some way, but I don't know how!
My other packages were from Betterworld Books and Amazon. One of the Betterworld package came with a nice milk chocolate bar with rice crispies (Divine, a fair trade chocolate company). I munched on it while browsing my new books - it was quite good, considering that I don't really like milk chocolate anymore nowadays. Even better the next day after I put it in the fridge.
My new books were a couple of cardmaking books, Nyan's origami book, and the stars of the show, my TWO new baking books dedicated to healthier baking. One was the 2nd hand Pillsbury Healthy Baking Book, and the other one was my much-awaited King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book. I love them both, though I think the KAF book might be more practical considering that the information about whole grain baking is newer and if focuses solely on whole grains (the Pillsbury book dates from 1994), but at least the Pillsbury book has a lot of reduced fat and half-whole wheat recipes.
So I decided that after all the research and dreaming, it was time to do some BAKING! But before that, I went to Marquee Mall and shopped for MORE supplies - I have a knack for hoarding all sorts of kitchen stuff as though I was a pro and racking up huge charges in the process, since my "perfectionist" streak always gets the better of me. However, I did chance upon a lot of useful stuff, such as a silicone spatula, a nice wooden spoon, lots of Baker's Secret Pans that are affordable considering the bump in quality, and wonder of wonders - an oven thermometer! I never dreamed I'd find one in Angeles. I ended up with 800+ PHP measuring cup and spoon set, though. These babies better be worth it!
So for my first try, I chose Whole Wheat Banana Bread from the Pillsbury book, since it's a quick bread and is supposedly very forgiving. I checked the recipe vs. Laura's and the only differences are the half whole wheat flour and the salt so I went ahead and did the Pillsbury version. I have to say, I think I chose the right recipe - it is indeed very forgiving, despite the numerous blunders I made along the way.
List of blunders:
1. I melted the butter in the preheated oven. The common way to melt it is through stovetop or microwave. Still, can't the oven suffice? I was scared I might do something to the butter so I removed it while it still had a few lumps, but I don't see any adverse effect.
2. I immediately put in the sugar together with the flours. It was supposed to be mixed into the butter. I was praying it wouldn't spell disaster. Fortunately, it didn't (thanks to the forgiving recipe).
3. The butter clumped up when I put in the water into the egg-mashed bananas-butter mixture. I briefly placed it in the oven so the butter will melt a little. Thankfully, I don't notice any ill effects (see how forgiving it is?)
4. The last 1/2 banana I put in wasn't mashed properly, and as a result I see some banana bits in the bread.
List of changes made:
1. Used approx. 2/3 cup sugar instead of 1 cup.
2. Baked approximately 35 minutes at 350F instead of 55 to 65 minutes
3. Used 1 mini loaf nonstick pan and 1 7" aluminum loaf pan.
4. Used 4 bananas (the lakatan were a bit on the small side; instead of 2 or 3)
I was scared I was overmixing the batter, so I tried as much as possible not to move it around too much. The banana bread wasn't dense, so maybe I did the mixing right or it was just the baking soda or the 2-time sifting. It was very nice watching the bread puff up in the oven. My oven thermometer is heaven-sent. I immediately found out that our oven is 25F off, so I adjusted the temperature - achieved a perfect 350F. However, I just couldn't make up my mind whether the bread was done or not (the crust was puffy, brown and developed early on which scared me) so I ended up bringing out and putting back the mini loaf pan into the oven. I set my timer at 45 minutes, but in the end I think I only managed barely 35 minutes due to my impatience and paranoia. But still it's a good thing, because I learned a few things:
1. Nonstick bakeware develop an nice brown crust and cook faster. According to the Baking 911 site, when cooking with glassware or darker nonstick pans, one should lower the temperature by 25F.
2. The aluminum pan loaf, though cooked a bit longer (due to not having been brought out), did not develop a crust at the sides and could have stood baking a few more minutes (maybe 45 mins. or more).
3. Nonstick bakeware are great for pound cakes due to the nice even crust. Aluminum pans are good for achivieng no-crusts.
4. Both of the cakes were easy to remove, the nonstick one a bit more so. I butter-greased the bottoms only.
Suggestions for next baking:
1. Cut the sugar to 1/2 cup, Mommy's request
2. Add more bananas (2 more, or 6 bananas total).
4. Add nuts (walnuts!)
5. Lower the temperature by 25F, increase baking time to at least 45 mins (though checking carefully after 35 mins).
6. Invest in 2 more mini loaf pans. They are a great size!
7. Thoroughly melt the butter.
8. Consider adding lukewarm water next time (prepare in advance, and not from the tap!)
Others:
1. Buy some baking gloves
2. Get a flour sifter, so the flour doesn't fly all over while sifting.
All in all, I'm still very pleased with my first try. The gods (or GOD), must be smiling down on me today :) I can't wait to bake more next week! :D
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