copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2011

 From a bed and breakfast guest:

“I had banana bread at the bed & breakfast home where I stayed and it was unbelievably good.  I must have the recipe.  I asked at the home and they told me to write to Bettina’s Blog.  Well, I’m writing – now let’s have the recipe.   Oh – my name is XXXXXXX  and the dates of my stay were XXXXXXXX (just so you get the right banana bread recipe, but please don’t print my name.) Thanks,”

The host family answers:

From the guests name and the date they stayed here is the banana bread recipe – it is really a basic recipe, the difference being the way the bananas are put into the batter.  Instead of mashing the bananas and mixing them in, the last thing to do is slice the bananas into the batter while the mixer is running on slow.  When the banana bread is baked, there is a kind of squishy, strong banana taste which comes from the baked-in slices.  I don’t do anything to keep the slices as a stand out in the bread, just mix them in as the final step.

I use the 1-2-3-4 step cake recipe for this banana bread – the problematic part is how much baking powder to add.  If you add too much, the ‘bread’ will go over the top of the glass bread baking dish and go all over the bottom of your oven which is impossible to clean and which leaves you a very little banana bread in the pan.  Too little baking powder and the banana bread does not rise properly.  The amount needed will probably vary depending upon your location in the world.

I use:

1 cup organic butter (put this in the mixer and let it go for a few minutes to whip the butter)

2 cups organic turbinado sugar (add this slowly after whipping the butter)

4 organic eggs ( it makes a real difference in taste and texture if you are going to use non-organic eggs.  I wouldn’t bother – they ruin the bread).  Add these one at a time while whipping the mixture, but don’t whip too much because this is the point at which you can overbeat the banana bread.

3 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour mixed* with 1/2 teaspoon himalayan salt and baking powder (measured for your geographical area)  - add this a little at a time on a very slow speed on your mixture because you really have to be careful about overmixing when you get here.  I add all kind of things at this point and don’t remember exactly what was added on the day you request.  I add raisins, shredded coconut, pecans, or sometimes walnuts depending up what I have on the shelf, and – as needed – either coconut milk or a great heavy cream I’ve found which is organic, non-homogenized, from grass-fed cows.  The brand name is “Sky Top Farms”.

*To mix the flour, salt and baking powder I use a spoon and stir the mixture around lifting it up by the spoonful and sprinkling it back into itself.

The last thing I add before baking are the bananas.  I take two or three bananas, slice them into the batter with the mixer on low and once I’ve finished slicing I pour the batter into glass baking dishes which have been buttered and bake at about 350 degrees for 45 or so minutes.

Sorry I can’t be more specific, but I am one of those toss it in, trial and error cooks, I don’t do the really particular measurements, etc.  You will have to experiment to get the perfect banana bread for your oven, mixer and location.

Enjoy!  To the guest who wrote:  call me if you have questions.

Ed Note:  We had a request months ago from someone who asked for a heavy cream which was organic but not “ultra-pasteurized”.  At the time, we didn’t know of any and hadn’t come across such a possibility until this blog from a Bettina host family.  Now we know about “Sky Top Farms” organic heavy cream which is also from grass-fed cows and non-homogenized.  A partial dream realized.  Now all we have to do is find one which is straight from the cow without having the nutrition cooked out of it.  At least this one still has some nutrition left, although you can’t leave it on the shelf in the refrigerator for months – you have to use it fairly quickly.  Which is what most foods need.   They were not grown nor taken from the animal to be shelved for a couple years or even for many months.  They are to be used ASAP and then repurchased when you need more.  A very old, very great concept in good nutrition and even better health.

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copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2011

We have had several requests for Robert’s Blueberry Muffins – which are admittedly exceptional.

He has not been in the frame of mind to give out his recipe.  He experimented with lots of different combinations and finally came to the conclusion that it is not the recipe, but the ingredients which make the difference and then went about using just an ordinary muffin recipe.  Everytime he makes them we get rave reviews on the “Guest Questionnaire” which we send out to guests who have visited one of the Bettina homes.

He is giving up this recipe with the proviso that when you use it you have to give him credit and give the muffins the title of “Robert’s Blueberry Muffins”.

A creation of the Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett – or so he claims:

                       
                          ”ROBERT’S BLUEBERRY MUFFINS”
                     
All of the ingredients for these muffins must be organic and not simply ‘organic’, but the best organic ingredients you can find.  Be especially careful of ingredients called organic from those large, large stores which are now hopping on the organic bandwagon and selling organic products about which I am a bit suspicious.

1/2 cup organic turbinado sugar (sugar that has been processed only once.)

1/3 cup organic butter or organic, virgin, expeller processed coconut oil (this is a new ‘shortening’ I have started to use because my wife gave me heck for turning my nose up at it and using butter exclusively.  I find it makes lighter muffins and gives them a little different taste that no one can quite pick out.  This is one of the secrets of these muffins.)

1 egg – organic from chickens that run around in the fresh air and sunshine and are only given organic feed

1/2 cup milk.  Preferably raw organic milk.  If you can’t find this, then milk which is unhomogenized, and/or unpasteurized.  If not, then use organic milk as unprocessed as you can find it.

1 1/2 cups organic flour.  Make sure the organic flour is also stone ground.

2 teaspoons organic baking powder.

1/2 teaspoon himalayan salt.  A very pure kind of salt and the only kind I am allowed to use at home.  I would love to tell you why, but I don’t know.

1/4 teaspoon soda.  This was a secret because we had abolished using soda.  I used to keep this specially wrapped and hidden away, but the secret is now out.

1 cup organically grown blueberries.  Put the blueberries in a small bowl with flour and mix them around with a large spoon until they are coated with flour. This helps to keep the blueberries from all sinking to the bottom of the batter.  It took quite a long time for me to figure this one out.

Grated rind of one lemon and a little extra turbinado sugar to mix together and sprinkle on top of each muffin before you bake them.

Mix dry ingredients together with a wire whisk until the flour looks lighter and has incorporated lots of air. .

In a separate bowl, beat egg with a wire whisk until it has lightened and incorporated lots of air then add the rest of the ‘wet’ ingredients.  The idea is to incorporate as much air as possible into these wet and dry ingredients because the batter is mixed very little once you put these two together.

Add dry ingredients alternately with wet ingredients.  Lightly mix – don’t try to get out all the lumps and especially don’t overmix.  Fold in floured blueberries.  Pour into a greased muffin tin and sprinkle grated lemon rind and sugar on top of each muffin.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

If you want more than this yields, double or triple the recipe.”

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