Indescribably delicious! I usually make banana bread by hand, so I was a touch skeptical about using the bread machine, but it came out dense and golden and smelled wonderful while baking. I began with the recipe Dee provided, then I added an extra banana, 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, a splash of vanilla, and in lieu of nuts, a heaping tbsp. of poppy seeds. I also added 4 oz. of plain applesauce (one of those individual cups). I used a Breadman Rapid Deluxe machine, which does not allow you to stop and then bake. Instead, I used the 1 pound setting and the "fruit/nut bread" option. It takes about 3 hours and 15 minutes to produce the loaf, but it mixes and stops and mixes and stops: the actual baking part is about an hour long. The banana bread had a more cakelike than breadlike texture (due to the addition of the applesauce) and was very dense, but oh so good! I love the ease and convenience of this recipe and I will use it often. A word of caution: use a rubber spatula to scrape the corners during the mixing phase to integrate all of the flour (be careful of the machine's mixing paddle), or some of the dry ingredients may get stuck in the corners of the pan. Enjoy!
I know I have a winning recipe on my hands when my husband and 3 year old start snacking on it as soon as its cool enough to handle and immediatly ask me to make it again soon. This bread turned out so well, just like a cinnamon roll in loaf form. I don't have a bread machine so I did have to adjust the directions for use in my stand mixer. I combined the white sugar and warm milk in my mixer bowl and added the yeast to proof. Once proofed I mixed in the eggs and softened butter until the butter was broken up into chunks and the eggs were mixed in. I then added the flour/salt that had already been mixed to combine. I let the dough hook do all the kneading and when finished I lightly oiled the bowl and the top of the dough, covered with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled. From that point on I followed the recipe except for doubling the sugar/cinnamon part of the filling. I made one loaf with walnuts and one without since my husband isn't crazy about them. We can't wait to try this bread toasted tomorrow morning. The only change I'll make next time is to brush the dough with an egg wash before baking so it comes out nice and glossy. Highly recommend! Read More
