Honey Banana Twist Bread

Happy love and friendship day! One of my weaknesses is bread. I have many fond memories of growing up in the Philippines and loving all the bakeries that baked fresh goodies everyday. We used to wake up in the morning and go to the bakery and buy fresh pandesal. I would go again during the afternoon to grab fresh pastries.  I found this recipe for banana whole wheat  yeast recipe from Salad In A Jar blog. I don't have a bread machine so I made it the traditional way. I also didn't add any raisins just a couple of nuts on top but next batch I think I will add some and maybe some more cinnamon. I also added hemp hearts to make it more healthier. I stuck with the recipe but next time I will try to use only whole wheat flour and see if it makes a difference.

Honey Banana Twist Bread

Ingredients

1 egg

⅓ cup warm water

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 small ripe banana, mashed (or approx ½ cup)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1¾ to 2¼ cup all purpose flour

2¼ tsp  instant yeast

3 tbsp. hemp hearts

 

Optional:

½ c. toasted pecans or almonds

⅓ c. raisins

¼ c. chopped dates

 

Topping

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

 

Directions

1) Mix yeast with warm water and honey. Let stand for 10 minutes until yeast is activated.

2) Add egg, salt,1 cup of flour, butter, hemp hearts, and mashed banana. Use paddle hook on kitchen aid and start mixing.

3) Slowly start adding the extra flour a little at a time. I ended up only using another 1 1/2 cups of extra flour. Add extra nuts if you want.

4) Cover and let sit for 1 hour until double in size.

5) Remove cover and divide dough into 3 equal sizes. Roll into long ropes and braid. Also, another option is to place entire dough into a loaf pan. But you must punch down on dough and shape accordingly. Leave dough again for another 2 hours. (second rise)

6) Mix milk and cardamom and slowly brush on top of bread. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture.

7) Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35-45 minutes depending on how thick you rolled your bread.

8) Remove from oven and let cool. Enjoy. It's usually good for 1 day and can be kept in an air tight

container.