The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: baking

  • Staff Recipe: Oh No, I Bought Too Many Bananas—Banana Bread

    Staff Recipe: Oh No, I Bought Too Many Bananas—Banana Bread

    A recipe for when you have too many bananas and don’t know what to do with them

    I’ve read enough recipe blogs to know you open a recipe with an autobiography.

    It all began when the plague hit. I panicked and bought too many bananas. This was immediately followed by remembering I don’t even like bananas that much. However, I do love bread, and banana bread works best with bananas just on the brink of going bad. Assuming you were able to gather the energy to wear socks in isolation, here’s a recipe that will knock your socks right off.

    With no further ado, here’s the “Oh No, I Bought Too Many Bananas—Banana Bread” recipe (this yields 2 loaves):

    Ingredients:

    4-6 very ripe bananas, mashed
    2 cups sugar
    2 eggs
    1/2 cup vegetable oil
    3 cups flour
    2 tablespoons baking soda
    2 tablespoons salt

    walnuts or chocolate chips, to personal preference (optional)

    Directions:

    1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two loaf pans.
    2. In a large bowl, combine bananas, sugar, eggs and oil. It will look lumpy, and that’s OK. There’s bananas in there—there’s only so much you can do.
    3. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Fold into the banana mixture and combine until no dry ingredients remain.
    4. Add salt and any additional, optional mix-ins, and combine thoroughly.

    5. Bake for an hour or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out mostly clean.

    And you’re done!

  • 4 Pietastic Baking Tips for the Holidays

    4 Pietastic Baking Tips for the Holidays

    Four tips to make baking a pie that much easier

    The holidays are ideally a pleasant time spent with family or friends, sharing gifts and eating good food, but the festive days are only as good as the desserts. If you are a baker or simply enjoy the act of baking, here are a couple tips to help you complete your holiday pie with ease and perfection.

    1. Make sure your ingredients are fully incorporated. Things like butter or salt are easy to forget about, but they are crucial to the composition of the pie. Cooking is a science, and if you mis-measure or mis-incorporate your ingredients, the whole pie can be ruined.

    2. The pie crust is the most delicate and intricate part of the pie. Try making the crust from scratch. Pre-made pie crusts can be good, but homemade is better. As long as you use a good quality butter you are left with a wonderful, flaky and crisp crust. When mixing the butter and flour of the dough, don’t over do it! Pie dough is made flakey by layering the butter and flour on top of each other, but over-mixing the dough can cause too much gluten to form and can make the crust hard. Fun fact, leaving small clumps of unmixed butter in the dough makes it flakier.

    • Making your dough from scratch makes for scrumptious crusts. | Photo by Rachel Marty
    • Spreading aluminum foil can prevent the crust from burning. | Photo by Rachel Marty
    • Spices can be key additions for a tasty pie. | Photo by Rachel Marty

    3. Cooking your pie can come with some trial and error. Always make sure to have aluminum foil handy because the middle of the pie cooks slower than the rest, in which case the top starts to darken and can become too crisp. Layer a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the pie to avoid the edges from from overcooking. In this situation, you can do what I did and cut a hole smack dab in the middle of the foil. This technique protects the edges of the crust from burning while the middle of the pie cooks.

    4. The last tip I have is the most important. Don’t be afraid to use seasonings and spices. For a pecan pie, nutmeg and cinnamon turn out to be great additions. Seasoning can make or break your pie. Even a little pinch of salt can accentuate the flavors in the pie. Of course, don’t over do it. Remember, you can always add more, but you can’t take any out. Choose the best spices for your pallet and always be cautious of people’s food allergies.