I have been throwing all my ripened bananas in the freezer now for well over 2 years. When I need to use banana, I just go to the freezer and pull out what I need. They thaw ridiculously fast and I think the texture of a frozen banana is so much easier to work with than a ripened banana that has not been frozen. I wish I would have known about this ten years ago. I have no idea how many bananas I have tossed in the garbage.
Flour sticking to the sides of your bread machine banana bread? Unfortunately, bread machines have a harder time mixing moister quick bread recipes (versus drier sandwich bread dough). Therefore, after the first mixing cycle has fully stopped (and before the second & final mixing cycle has begun), I like to scrape the sides of the bread pan with a flexible silicon spatula (not a metal spatula). This loosens any flour that may be sticking to the sides of the bread pan (because a bread machine mixing “paddle” doesn’t quite reach the sides of the bread pan). For safety purposes, I do not scrape the sides of the bread pan when the mixing blade is moving. In addition, people should not stick their hands inside bread machines. Moreover, people should always wear oven mitts when dealing with a bread machine because the bread pan & bread machine interior can get quite hot.
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The key to great banana bread is… RIPE bananas!!! If you use bananas that are hard & yellow or even worse green, they will contain too much starch and not enough natural sugars. As bananas ripen, they convert this starch into sugar. According to Wikipedia, “The greener, less ripe bananas contain higher levels of starch and, consequently, have a “starchier” taste. On the other hand, yellow bananas taste sweeter due to higher sugar concentrations”. FYI – You will know if a banana is ripe when it is soft and shows small brown & black spots on the yellow exterior of the banana.
When the bread machine has finished baking the bread, unplug the bread machine, remove the bread pan and place it on a wooden cutting board. Let the bread stay within the bread loaf container for 10 minutes before you remove it from the bread loaf container. Use oven mitts when removing the bread machine container (bread loaf pan) because it will be very hot!
