Reply #8: Success! And it's perrrrrty too!

[Dover]

Well that was fun. :-) Of course it's not banana bread anymore...lol.


I don't have a camera, but I'll ask a friend to photograph it tomorrow so I can show it to you. It looks as though it rose about the same as the one in the OP picture and is dense and moist but not chewy. Maybe the addition of the almond flour (about 1/4 C) kept it from rising too much. I really don't know too much about how different flours behave. The flavor does not scream sweet potato!, but it's a very pleasant bread. That said, I would still like to have some banana bread...haha! I was thinking how delicious it would be to blend sweet potatoes and bananas. I looked at an actual recipe for sweet potato bread and it's pretty similar to this one (except for those added tips that were mentioned). Not sure how the sweet potato flavor could be intensified. I figured since I had baked them a long time (the sugars were bubbling out of the skins) that it would be similar to the results achieved by further cooking and reducing the bananas. Maybe the solution is simply to add MORE sweet potatoes.

I was a little short of the amount of fruit in the recipe so I added about a 1/2 C. of apple sauce which also helped increase moisture, AND about 2 T. of some fig/lemon preserves I had in the frig. As for spices I added cinnamon, pumpkin spice and cardamom to the dry mix.

So here are the changes I made if anyone would like to try it.
My listed ingredients are in addition to what is called for in the original recipe.


To the wet mix I added -
2 med. sweet potatoes (baked until sugars turn brown and bubbley) as banana substitute
1/2 C. Apple Sauce
2 T. fig preserves
2 T. Molassas

To the dry mix I added -

1/2 C. Bread flour (substituted for All Purpose)
1/4 C. Almond flour
A sprinkling of ground flax seed
cinnamon, pumpkin spice, cardamom for spices (about 1/2 tsp. each)

I also had a smaller thin "fingerling" type yam/sweet potato that I microwaved and sliced for shingles on top of the loaf. And inbetween I put the remainder of the toasted walnuts on top (as well as in the mix per the original recipe). Pecans would be good too.

I used a little tip I think I heard on Am. Home Kitchen once in order for the bread or other baked item to release easily from the pan. I created a parchment paper 'sling' the ran the length of the bottom of the loaf pan and up the sides at the ends. So when it's finished cooking you can just grab the two ends and lift out the loaf.