Friday, August 3, 2012

How to not bake banana bread!

Hallo meine Lieben,

I enjoy baking. A lot. But most times it doesn't turn out that great. Normally I don't know why. This time I know why. And it was not because I burned it. Are you surprised, Vanisha?

First I have to tell you that David always takes a banana to work to eat it for breakfast. He doesn't like to eat them anymore when they get brown and a little soft. So at that point I have to use them for baking. That's the reason I burned so many muffins in the last couple of weeks. 

So yesterday I decided that I was a little tired of baking muffins and that I wanted to make banana bread instead. I remembered a vegan recipe I found in my first vegan cook book that I bought when I was 13 or 14. So I googled "vegan banana bread" and found a recipe that sounded similar to the one I tried years ago.

There were only a couple of problems. I did not have all the ingredient but I thought it doesn't matter. Spoiler: It does matter. 




The recipe asked for a package of baking powder. In Germany you get baking powder in little packages but here I only have a huge box of baking powder. I have no idea how much is in a little package of baking powder but I though 3 teaspoons would be awesome. Maybe my first mistake. I don't know.

Second mistake. Recipe asked for nuts. Didn't have any so decided that they are not so important. They probably are. 

Recipe wants freshly ground vanilla. I only have some liquid vanilla stuff but the last muffins I made tasted a little bitter so I decided not to use any vanilla. Third mistake. 

Recipe also tells me that I need to add 120 ml of soy milk. Well, what a surprise. I am out of soy milk. I guess the fourth and biggest mistake was to use plant oil instead of soy milk. Both are fluids, right? I used a little more than 120 ml because the dough had a weird consistency. Huge mistake. 

Fifth mistake. Recipe wants me to add 3 bananas. I had 5 left that I needed to use for something so I though "more banana, more taste". Not true.

I should have been suspicious when I looked at it after 50 minutes of baking and it still looked like raw dough. 

The banana bread smelled awesome when I took it out of the oven and I did not burn it which was a huge success. So I was pretty confident that I made some pretty impressive banana bread here. 




So later I asked David if he wanted some banana bread for dessert (I was too full for dessert which was weird because "süss geht immer"). He said yes and I cut off a piece for him. Everything looked fine, like banana bread should look like. 
David started to eat and I asked him how it tastes and he said "good". David is a man of few words so I thought it must be good because he knows that he can tell me the truth about my cooking skills. 

A minute later he asked me if I want to try a bite and I agreed. I should have known it back then. I tried a tiny bite and I was shocked. It tasted terrible. And I mean really terrible. Not just a little bitter like the last muffins I made. I have never cooked or baked anything that horrible. I swear.

So what do we learn?

When you bake, please follow the recipe. It exists for a reason.

Have a wonderful Friday!



22 comments:

  1. So sorry for your baking blunder! But a lesson learned is an awesome loaf of banana bread in the future =]

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    1. I am not so sure about that. My baking is usually pretty terrible. :)

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  2. Hehehe....maybe you should try the Raw diet with me :)

    I am not a pro at baking, but yes I do think following the recipe helps!

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    1. I guess I should! :))
      But yeah, I guess you don't necessarily have to follow cooking recipes but it's definitely helpful when you bake. :)

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  3. Lovely blog, Katrin.. your bread looks good.

    Visited through BBN.. love this blog! Hope to see you stop by at my blog, say hi and follow back.

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  4. i'm worse that your worst in baking. trust me

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  5. Hi, Katrin! How are you today? I have never ever tried banana bread! And of course, I have not baked it either, hehe. I should give it a try. Although I kinda suck at baking, to be quite honest.

    So what are your plans for the weekend? Anything fun ahead of you guys? :P I have a birthday gathering tomorrow and I have no desire whatsoever to go, boo! :/

    Have a great weekend! ;D

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    1. Hi Miki! :)
      Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I don't have any specific plans! I hope your birthday gathering won't be too bad! Hope you get lots of cake! :)

      The banana bread I tried before was delicious! But this one is really terrible!

      Have a great evening!

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  6. Haha oh dear! I have done this exact same thing.... when it comes to baking recipes are needed! Or in my case I am not much of a baker at all.... you get points for trying! ~Stephanie

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    1. I am a terrible baker. :) But good to hear that I am not the only one! :) Next time I'll stick to the recipe!

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  7. Bahaha, oh no! I've totally done this. Thought for sure I could tweak a recipe & make it better or alter it to my liking, yeah that didnt work out so well. I love that David pretended like it was great & actually had you taste it, that's awesome.

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    1. I really thought it would taste great! We should bake together someday. :) And yeah, his reaction was special!

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  8. Hehe, uff! I am sorry to hear that (although it was entertaining reading about it!) I have never made banana bread, but I hate when baking something that doesn't turn out the way it was supposed to!

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    1. When I bake it never turns out the way I wanted to. :) Glad it was entertaining to read. :) Hope next time will be more successful! :)

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  9. Oh no, it's always sooo frustrating when you put a lot of effort into something and then it just doesn't work out. Especially when it comes to cooking and baking...I've been there too - throwing away cakes and even the dinner I cooked for an hour because it was not possible to eat it ;)

    Your story made me smile though because it's nice to know others experience the same thing ;D

    Ich drücke Dich ganz fest! Das klingt, als sollten wir einfach mal zusammen backen, das wird bestimmt lustig - egal was am Ende dabei raus kommt :)

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    1. It really was frustrating but I am getting used to it! :) Most times I eat it even when it turns out in a weird way. :)
      Glad I could make you smile with my baking skills.
      Und yay fürs zusammen backen! :)
      Ich drück Dich!

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  10. I love your post...really funny!

    Poor you! I hate when you spend so much time making something and then it doesnt turn out well. Nice of David to say it tasted fine, though. My husband always critizes my cooking/baking....and when I say always I mean ALWAYS. Gets so old.

    You should definitely try again though, banana bread is sooo yummy!

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    1. Glad you like it! :))
      I told David that he can tell me the truth. I guess he is too nice! It's a little mean that your husband always criticizes your cooking! I am sure it's fantastic!
      I will try it again when I have some more old bananas. Haha!

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  11. Haha...that story is hilarious, and reminds me a bit of myself. I prefer cooking to baking because you can add whatever you like pretty much, in baking, you definitely don't have as much freedom!

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    1. Yeah, so true! I am really glad I am not the only one!

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