Gertrude's Banana Bread

I'm gonna be real honest with you. I don't know who Gertrude is. I probably should. I'm sure my dad knows. I'll convene with him about it in a week when he's here for a visit and get back to you all.



This recipe was kind of an exploration or sorts.



First, if you will please refer to the shot of the back of the card it says that it is "similar to banana nut bread of ranch house". This intrigued me. So I did a little digging and came up with THIS.

How cool is that? I was quite thrilled with that little nugget.

Then I continued on.

There were quite a few things I needed to figure out first.

1) "Don't Use Big Loaf Pan- Use Small-Makes one loaf"
Ok, um, big vs small. I have big and small loaf pans but my big ones I find to be very standard sized loaf pans and the small ones are quite small, like mini almost. So, I go with the big knowing that if I were to make the recipe without doubling it, it still wouldn't all fit in my small loaf pans to make one loaf.

2) "Double Recipe"
Yes, well, I had 4 bananas to use up, so I did indeed double the recipe

3) Complete lack of baking temperature.
All is not lost. I made a guesstimate at 375 degrees solely based on the fact that quick breads I have made previously are between 350-375 and it doesn't matter anyway because I can never really tell what the temperature of our very antique oven is.

4) I love me some super sweet dense almost syrupy banana bread. I especially like it with some chocolate chips thrown in. With a gigantic glass of ice cold milk. With that being said, I will be attending the wedding of one of K's good friends in about a month so this is not the banana bread I will be making. Whole wheat and bran was used. Fiber is good for your waistline. :)



I creamed the shortening, sugar and egg as instructed.



In a separate bowl I mixed all of the dry ingredients.



I mashed the bananas with buttermilk, vanilla and almond extract in yet another bowl. That's 3 bowls we've got going here. I promise you the bread is really fantastic. It's totally worth the dirty dishes.



I chop, chop, chopped the nuts. I need a mezzaluna for tasks such as this. That and a bajillion other kitchen things. It would all make it so much easier, wouldn't it?



After alternating adding the wet and dry ingredients to the shortening mixture, I folded in the nuts.
I used a great deal more nuts than what is in this picture. After I took this picture I looked at it and thought, that needs more nuts (insert "That's what she said" joke here)



I buttered and floured 2 loaf pans because after mixing up the batter I was so afraid that not all of it would fit in one pan.
I love buttering and flouring bakeware. I can actually remember my grandma showing me how to do it. "get the corners" and "flour them over the sink".-Do you think I remember that part every time. Um, no.



I probably could have put all of it into one pan but then I would have only had to butter and flour one pan and what fun is that?



Plus, I'm going to wrap up and freeze the other one for future enjoyment!




Gertrude's Banana Bread (with adjustments as above)

Makes: (2) 10"x5" loaves

1/2 Cup Shortening
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
4 Large very ripe bananas
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Teaspoon Almond Extract
1/2 Cups Lowfat Buttermilk
3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Oat Bran
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 Cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Butter and flour your loaf pans and set aside.

In a large bowl cream together the shortening, sugar and eggs and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, bran, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside.

In another medium bowl combine the bananas, buttermilk, vanilla and almond extract. Mash the bananas until they are good and mushed up but still have some pea sized lumps.

Alternating between the flour and banana mixtures add a 1/4 of the mixtures at a time to the shortening mixture until all is just combined.

Divide batter between loaf pans and spread out evenly.

Bake 55-60 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serve slices warm with a good smear of butter. This will totally cancel out the whole wheat and bran which is exactly how I like it.