It happens to everyone, and every once in a while I will forget an ingredient, especially when making multiple batches.
It happened several weekends ago, and I cannot blame my 2-year-old grandson, Quentin, because he was taking a very long three-hour nap when I made several batches of banana bread. I got a box of small bananas, like the apple variety but skinny and tasting like a Cavendish, from my sister, Myra. I decided to make banana bread for an upcoming family reunion.
Never underestimate the importance of just 1-2 teaspoons of baking soda or baking powder, both leavenings that can drastically change your end product. If called for in the recipe and is left out, these powerful chemical agents can produce dense, hard hockey pucks instead of light cookies.
Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, in breads and cookies make them rise and have a light, fine texture. It is mined from trona ore found in Green River, Wyo., which supplies one-fourth of the world with baking soda. The trona goes through a chemical process to create baking soda.
Ancient Egyptians used natron (made of sodium carbonate) as a soap-like cleaning agent as well as in the mummification process. In 1843, Alfred Bird, a British chemist created the first version of baking powder for his wife, who was allergic to yeast.
Baking soda forms carbon dioxide bubbles when it interacts with an acid such as vinegar, molasses, buttermilk or brown sugar.
If you are not sure if your baking soda is fresh, place a teaspoon in a small bowl and add a little vinegar. If it foams up, your baking soda is still fresh.
Baking powder is made from baking soda, cream of tartar and cornstarch. It begins to bubble when exposed to liquid and bubbles even more when exposed to heat. The starches in the batter and dough trap the bubbles so they don’t escape into the air. These bubbles cause the dough to rise and expand.
If you want soft and chewy cookies, use baking soda, which will allow the cookies to spread. For rolled, cut cookies such as sugar cookies and gingerbread, baking powder will allow the cookies to rise but not spread.
If you don’t have baking powder you can make your own by mixing two parts cream of tartar, one part baking soda and one part cornstarch. To substitute baking powder for baking soda, add 2 teaspoons baking powder for every cup of flour.
I’ve shared my banana bread recipe with readers before, some of whom tell me they use it. My recipe is simple.
Banana Bread
Makes: 2 loaves
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray. Cut parchment paper the length of the pan and allow the paper to hang out by 1 inch from the pan.
In a bowl of a standing mixer, add:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still slightly cool
When mixed, add:
2 cups sugar
Mix till well-blended. Add one at a time:
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon kosher salt
While this is being mixed, in a separate bowl, sift:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
Add:
1/2 cup nuts — walnuts, macadamia nuts or pecans (optional, as my sister’s daughter-in law, Jade, is allergic to tree nuts and I do not add any so she can have some of the banana bread.)
Mix in gently (do not overmix) just to combine the dry and wet ingredients. Bake for one hour. Check the center of the bread to make sure it is cooked through, otherwise the bread will fall in the middle.
Remove from oven and allow to cool at least one hour.
So for the second batch of banana bread, I forgot to sift the baking soda with the flour. The result was a very dense, light, oily “bread” that looked more like baked mochi. The taste was OK, but was just not what I could call banana bread.
Foodie bites
‘Iwa Arts &Café in Keaulakekua and their next door neighbor, Strawberry Patch Restaurant, are hosting a Summertime Celebration from noon-3 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 20). A portion of the proceeds will go to Child and Family Services.
Ice pops, pies, pool floats as well as art, temporary tattoos and open studios in ceramics, textiles and metalsmithing will be featured. Sketchbook botanicals by Lauren Bradburn will be on exhibit at the gallery and blacksmith Neil Kamimura, winner of History Channel’s “Forged in Fire,” will perform a “rasp knife” demonstration.
Kona Dance and Performing Arts will perform in the back. Local band, Nowelo, will feature Ann Hoku Lynn on trumpet and play a fusion of acoustic blues, jazz and hip-hop.
Loco Wraps also will serve up some exotic foods.
‘Iwa Arts &Café serves freshly roasted Kona coffee, artisanal pastries and handcrafted syrups in local flavors. Its mission is “to bridge the understanding between handmade objects and the process of making them.”
‘Iwa Arts &Café and Strawberry Patch Restaurant are in the 150-year-old historic Honuaino Square, south of Kainaliu, on the mauka side of the road.
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Happy birthday, Jade Hiraki, and it’s also Julia Child’s birthday. I hope you have a wonderful French dinner tonight in honor of Julia.
Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808@gmail.com.
