yeast raised banana dark chocolate bread

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Bend low again, night of summer stars.

So near you are, sky of summer stars,

So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars,

Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,

So near you are, summer stars,

So near, strumming, strumming,

So lazy and hum-strumming.

~ Carl Sandberg

time passes so quickly i hate wishing for it to pass even sooner. but this has been a week and summer break cannot get here fast enough.

summer basketball began a week early. final projects are due, along with a surprise (to me not to stella) lady capulet costume that needed to be made. add in study guides that need to be complected for finals next week and a volunteer obligation i forgot about, and just to make things interesting a migraine that won’t seem to quit.

summer break we need you.

although i may change my tune once break actually gets here and i have teenagers invading my once quiet home. but i think i’ll take my chances. lazy evenings staring at the stars sound so much more fun than studying high school math, physics, and fighting with glittery fabric, gold crowns and glue guns.

we have 4 days to go. to get us through the non-stop studying that will be happening over the long weekend (lucky us) i made carbs in the form of an amazing yeast raised banana dark chocolate bread.

Print Recipe ^[4]

Yield: 1 loaf

yeast raised banana dark chocolate bread

Prep Time: 20 minutes plus rising time

Cook Time: 45-55 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 4 Tbsp butter melted
• 3 1/2 cups Unbleached Bread Flour ^[5]
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp Instant Yeast ^[6]
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped (i used this Ghirardelli Chocolate Baking Bar ^[7])

Directions:

• whisk together the banana, warm milk, and melted butter
• in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt
• add the banana milk mixture and mix until combined
• you can knead the dough by hand (it will be sticky) or using the dough hook of the stand mixer – knead until smooth (this will take 5-10 minutes)
• cover the dough and let rise until doubled (in a warm room about 90 minutes)
• on a well floured surface, punch the dough down, then scatter the chopped chocolate over the dough
• carefully knead the chocolate into the dough just until it is incorporated
• shape into a loaf, and place in a greased loaf pan (i chose a Pullman Loaf Pan ^[8] to get a taller loaf)
• cover loosely and let rise 1 hour
• preheat oven to 400 degrees
• bake 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees
• bake another 35-45 minutes (should be a dark golden brown with an internal temperature of 190 degrees)
• cool in pan 15 minutes then complete cooing on a rack

  

banana bread is one of my all time favorites for snacking, but when it comes to procrastibaking, nothing works quite like a yeast risen loaf. so i combined the two in one, and added plenty of chopped dark chocolate. when you have to study over a holiday weekend chocolate is definitely in order.

here’s to those lazy hazy crazy days of summer

enjoy!