Little loaf

My little sister just got admitted to college. About 15 minutes from where I live. One of the first things I thought was, uh oh, am I gonna fall into some maternal-style older sis spying? I promise to not. But sometimes, you just want to know something... One thing I like to know? That on a weekday morning breakfast is waiting on the table. No pans to mess, just, banana bread.

Do you have a mini loaf pan? A typical banana bread recipe is easily divided by three, into three little loaves or, if you're like me and manage to save just one banana at a time that gets a little too speckled, easily made into one little loaf for a small household. Banana bread recipes run the gamut, and everyone's got an opinion, but here I started with a popular David Leite recipe, threw in a little hint from Alton Brown and Salvegged it a touch.

I used a blend of oat flour and all purpose ( Alton uses a little oat but I upped it to half) and a little yogurt and crunchy toasty walnuts for contrast. If you are in the the mixer mood, check out these muffins from Dorie. But a nice thing about this little loaf is it can be done bowl to bowl. I won't resort to the sister spying next year but maybe I'll stop by with a little loaf (sans nuts!). 

Mini Banana Loaf

makes one 5 x 3

1/3 c / 42 grams unbleached all purpose flour

1/3 c / 30 grams oat flour (you can sub more all purpose, or a little less oat if you prefer)

1/8 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp vanilla

33 grams beaten egg (2/3 of a large)

20 ml plain whole milk yogurt (1.5 Tbsp)

28 grams (2 Tbsp) butter, melted

1/4 c sugar

4 oz/ 1 med very ripe banana

2 Tbs lightly toasted, cooled walnuts, chopped rough

Preheat oven to 350, butter and flour a 5 x 3 loaf. 

Whisk flours, soda, salt and spice in a medium bowl.

Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly.

Mash banana and sugar together well, add vanilla.

Stir together egg and yogurt, and add to banana mix. Stir in butter to combine.

Pour wet into dry and fold gently to just combine, adding walnuts into the last two strokes.

Pour batter into pan and place in oven.

Bake 30-40 mins. I pulled this at just close to 40 but ovens differ so start checking at 30. A toothpick should come out almost clean.