One Loaf a Week

How a habit I started in BC travelled accross the country

one of the first recipe books I created years ago

I wrote a blog post a while back about baking to relieve stress. It's something I do most weeks when I have anxiety about work. I left the habit for a while, but I have started doing it again to help me stay calm.

When we lived in Kelowna, I started making a different loaf every week. It became part of my weekly routine. It has taken me about 7 months to get back into that routine. I had to restock our new flat with all the bakeware and supplies to bake and cook on a regular basis again.

Some loaves were more complicated than others and some took about 15 minutes to mix together and an hour to bake. Generally they were easy recipes that used up old bananas and fruit that I would freeze and bring out to add. My partner likes to slice a piece and eat it with a fried egg. I tend to enjoy it with some butter with my coffee in the morning.

The best part about a loaf is the end pieces that have been there for a week. I like to add some butter to a pan and toast them to to eat with breakfast. They get all crispy and delicious around the edges and regain some of their moisture this way.

This recipe is from the archives. I wrote it when I was 22 and living on the vineyard at Burning Kiln Winery. We were at that time making everything from scratch and baking all the breakfast breads in house. About 3 months into the season, I decided to cut that shit out, since it was taking way too long and the bag mix wasn't all that different of a product.

The past 2 times I have made it, I have used yogurt, instead of sour cream like the recipe says. The yogurt was actually frozen previously and had separated. It has the consistency of buttermilk, so it's not good to eat by itself. I decided to try and use it in a batter and it turns out that it actually makes the final product very moist, with no textural changes.

So here is one from the records. The OG of recipes. This one you can make in 15 minutes and enjoy the next morning for breakfast or for when you need a snack with your coffee in the afternoon. This is also a great base recipe for other flavours. If you don't want to use Banana's, use berries or grate some apple into it and top it with some seeds. You can also make it chocolate by adding cocoa powder like I did yesterday. Enjoy it however you want!

Yogurt Banana Bread

3 Ripe or frozen banana's, smashed

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 pinch of salt

1/2 cup full fat yogurt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 vegetable oil

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup walnut pieces for the topping

butter or oil to grease the baking container

Directions

-Preheat oven to 350F

-Grease the baking container or loaf pan, making sure to get into the corners

-Using a fork, mash the bananas into a pulp

-Mix in eggs, oil and yogurt, until all ingredients are well combined

-In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients

-Fold in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients

-Pour mixture into pan and top with walnuts

-Bake for 1 hour, or until done

*use a toothpick to test if the batter is cooked

*this loaf also freezes well, so you can make ahead and pull it from the freezer