Small variations

Time passes so relentlessly these days, and yet, still manages to give off a steady and restrained vibe, acting as if it's plodding along at a regular pace. And so, here we are again at another Monday, reeling a bit from the hour jump forward yesterday, but still here.

Nothing particularly new to say, just some small leaps and branches from previous thoughts. Accordingly, here's something old, with maybe a little bit of new. 

Bananas go off quickly in this house, or rather, bananas sit around for awhile until they become nearly inedible. Banana bread and other banana-related desserts are thereby inevitable. So...banana bread, again. 

Fortunately though, I'm not just re-posting a past recipe. Instead, I've altered some components, which I believe improved the original recipe significantly. And so, while this is yet another variation of banana bread, I will admit, this variation is the best one I've made yet. Let me explain something quickly, just to emphasize my point. I'm usually not a huge banana bread person. Last loaf I made went mostly into Pinky's stomach, I really only ate one slice, which was delicious, but more than enough to set me straight for a couple of weeks. So when I say that I loved this banana bread, that this variation was truly an exception to the rule, you'll get my point. Not only is this variation beautiful in color, it is moister than the rest, and has a fragrance so heady and aromatic, so heavenly, that I ate nearly a third of the loaf, still warm from the oven, in one sitting. It smells ridiculously good, and we all know how important smell is. Now, I may be biased. Earl Grey is my favorite black tea, and I know a good deal of people that aren't as fond of that bergamot scent as I am. Also, the banana flavor in here isn't as strong as in the other breads, probably because it is masked a great deal by the spices. Nonetheless, even if you decide to omit the tea, the combination of flavors in this banana bread is a home run. 

As a quick note, the deviations from the original banana bread recipe are the use of more butter (instead of shortening), bread flour instead of all-purpose, an increase in baking powder, and use of heavy cream instead of milk, though I'm sure you could use milk as well and it would turn out fine. And of course, the addition of Early Grey tea. Such changes, especially the cream and bread flour, are probably what make this bread a little more moist and dense than its predecessors.

Earl Grey Banana Bread
1 loaf

3/4 C light brown sugar
4 TB unsalted butter
1 TB shortening
5-6 overripe bananas
2 large eggs
1 TB freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 C heavy cream
2 tea bags of Earl Grey team

dry
1 3/4 C bread flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 C roughly diced pecans
brown sugar, to sprinkle

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a loaf pan.

All of this is done by hand. Peel and microwave your bananas in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, for 3 minutes. Drain the bananas (comes to about a little more than 1 C of mashed bananas) and reserve banana liquid in small sauce pot.  Simmer the banana liquid on the stove until reduced to less than 1/4 C of liquid, then let this liquid cool. In another small pot, heat up your heavy cream or milk until at a simmer, then turn off heat and steep the two tea bags in the hot cream, until the cream turns a dark brown color and picks up the flavor of the tea. As these two liquids are cooling, in a large bowl, cream together the brown sugar, butter, and shortening. Then add the mashed bananas, reduced banana liquid and lemon juice, and stir until everything is evenly mixed. Now mix in your eggs, one at a time. Finally, pour in your tea and cream mixture, and fold it into the wet ingredients.

In another bowl, sift together all your dry ingredients. Once sifted, fold the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredient mixture until all flour is hydrated. Do not over mix, or you might activate the gluten too much and your banana bread could be tough. The batter is now complete.

Pour batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle the top with chopped pecans and brown sugar. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown on top and toothpick inserted comes out clean.