Super soft bread with a silky texture and prominent but not overpowering banana flavor complimented by caraway.

Our Daily Bread - Banana Caraway Sandwich Bread

Makes 1 - 9x5in (23x12.75cm) loaf

Though each of the loaves of sandwich bread in this series are tasty, this loaf is one of the most unique and possibly my favorite. I like that this loaf uses the super ripe bananas we all have lying around in a savory application rather than the banana bread we are used to. While the banana does add some sweetness and a prominent banana flavor it is not overpowering and stays firmly in the realm of savory with the amount of caraway and salt in the dough. While adding flavor, the banana also gives this bread a unique super smooth almost silky texture especially when eaten untoasted. Versatile as all sandwich breads should be, I like to serve this simply with a little butter or toasted and drizzled with olive oil with a nice jammy egg or two on the side.

Ingredients

Preferment

113g (0.75 c + 2 T) whole wheat flour

113ml (0.50 c + 1 T) water

Small pinch of instant yeast

Dough

*150g (heaped 0.75 c) banana, mashed well

1/8 t ground clove

8g (2 t) kosher salt

300g (2.25 c + 1 T) bread flour

5g (1.25 t) instant yeast

113-150ml (0.50 c + 1 T – 0.75 c) water

9g (1 T) whole caraway seeds, toasted and crushed coarsely

Method

Preferment

1.      In a medium bowl, combine the preferment ingredients mixing well until all the flour is hydrated.

• Cover and allow to sit at room temperature overnight, 18 – 24 hours.

Dough

2.      In a small nonstick saute pan pour the mashed banana and clove.

• Cook 7 – 10 minutes over medium-high stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula until it is beginning to caramelize.

The banana is ready when it is no longer steaming and beginning to stick to the pan slightly and to about 0.25 c.

• Remove from the heat and add the salt and a splash of the measured water for the dough. Stir to dissolve the salt.

• Cool completely.

3.      In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour and create a well in the center.

• Add the yeast and 50% of the remaining water stirring to dissolve.

• Into the well add the preferment and cooled banana mixture.

• Use your hands to combine the liquids in the well.

• Mix the flour into the liquids adding 50% more of the remaining water.

• Add more water 1 – 2 T at a time as needed to bring the dough together with no dry flour remaining.

You may or may not need the remaining 25% of water, it depends on your environment and your flour.

The dough should be medium soft and a little sticky.

• Move the dough to an unfloured work surface and knead for 4 minutes, scraping your hands and the bench as necessary.

Try not to add additional flour.

• Sprinkle over the caraway, squeezing in until homogeneous.

• Kneading for a further 3 minutes.

• Form the dough into a ball and return to the mixing bowl. Cover.

• Ferment for 30 minutes.

• Fold.

To fold: wet your dominant hand and grab a grip of dough across from you, lift and stretch the dough out a few inches then fold it over the center. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat this process, wetting your hand as necessary to prevent sticking, until you reach the point where you began. The dough should have formed a loose ball at this point. Grab the dough and flip it, placing the “seams” of the dough on the bottom and tuck the dough together to make a ball.

Do not add flour during the folding.

• Cover and ferment 30 minutes longer.

• Repeat the fold.

• Cover and bulk ferment 1 hour.

The dough will be nearly double in size.

4.      Line a 9x5 in loaf pan with parchment if necessary.

My loaf pan is great but sometimes causes sticking. To prevent this I always line it.

5.      Lightly flour the top of the dough and the work surface.

• Use a bench scraper to release the dough from the missing bowl and remove to the work surface leaving the unfloured surface on top.

• Gently stretch out to a blunt triangle with the base closest to you.

• Fold the left and right sides across from you into the center creating a sharp angle.

• Starting from the top, roll down toward the base pulling in the sides as necessary to maintain a chunky cylinder.

• Pinch the end seam well and seam side down, place into the loaf pan.

• Flatten the cylinder to spread into the pan as necessary.

• Cover loosely and proof for 45 – 60 minutes or until the dough has risen 2.5 – 4 cm (1 – 1.5 in) above the rim of the pan.

6.      Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F.

• Bake for 5 minutes.

• Reduce to 180 C / 350 F.

• Bake 20 – 25 minutes longer.

After 20 minutes, carefully test the loaf with an instant read thermometer stuck through the side into the middle of the loaf.

The bread should register 94 C / 200 F.

If not ready, allow to cook longer.

 If the crust is browning too much, tent loosely with foil.

• Remove to a cooling rack and cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

• Remove from the pan and cool completely.

7.      Slice and serve.