Orange Banana and Cranberry Loaf

[Neko-chan]

Some notes: I didn't have self rising flour, so I made my own. The formula is 2tsp baking powder to 1 cup of flour to make self rising flour. If you're going to make muffins/cupcakes, you should probably soak the cranberries in some orange juice to plump them a bit. Otherwise, the dried will be fine. I imagine most of this can be drawn from stores to make as well. Instead of the sunflower oil I used coconut oil (because I like it more). I also think a lovely variation would be to make lemon blueberry banana bread.

Serves 8-10

1+1/2 cup self rising flour (1+1/2 cup flour sifted with 3tsp baking soda)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup light brown sugar
2 bananas, mashed
1/4 cup chopped candied peel (I left it out)
1/4 cup chopped mixed nuts (I made it about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (not nearly enough for me. I made it 1 cup)
5-6 Tbsp orange juice (I used 6 Tbsp)
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sunflower oil (I used coconut oil)

1/3 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
grated rind of 1 orange

1. Thoroughly grease a 2 lb loaf pan and line the base with parchment paper. (I skipped the paper, and just greased with butter.)

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar, bananas, chopped candied peel, chopped nuts and cranberries.

3. Stir the orange juice, eggs, and oil together until well combined. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan.

4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F (180C) for about 1 hour, until firm to the touch or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

5. Turn out the loaf and cool on a wire rack.

6. Mix the confectioners sugar with a little water and drizzle the frosting over the loaf. (I will be using a little orange juice for this instead) Sprinkle the orange rind over the top. Let the frosting set before serving the loaf in slices.

COOKS TIP: This teabread will keep for a couple days. Wrap it carefully and store in a cool dry place.

 

[Marianne]

Oh yum! I have a friend that makes cookies with the same ingredients!

 

[Neko-chan]

It was a disaster, darn it. I HATE converting imperial to metric, it's a PITA.

Next time I'll be using 175C and not 180C, because 180C is too hot. The loaf got dark on top, and was batter in the middle still. I have to remember to turn the fan off as well.

The bottom stuck, so I'll have to be more vigilant in making sure to grease AND flour pans for this recipe.

It needs more orange flavor. The orange juice is not enough. I'll have to make some candied orange peels next time, as I didn't have any right now. And perhaps get a bottle of orange essence.

Hubs says new things rarely turn out the first time, but as a baker, I'm pretty dissapointed in my skills.

 

[Marianne]

When you said fan, does that mean that you have a convection oven? My convection oven says to lower temp by 25 degrees (F) and it will take 1/3 less time to bake. I always figured it wouldn't work well for breads, so as you said, that might have been the problem there.

Don't toss out that recipe yet. It may have needed more orange flavor and the addition of candied orange peel would have added a lot. I never thought of making my own for a bread recipe - duh. And I started saving some orange peel to make a small batch just to eat.

I usually try to follow a recipe just as it is the first time, then tweak it for what we like the next time I make it. I will leave out ingredients that I absolutely hate (cilantro). And sometimes there are just typos - like the granola recipe I had that said to use 2 cups of wheat germ. Holy mama! I was still chewing on the first bite 10 minutes later. I felt like a cow chewing on a cud. But don't beat yourself up about it. We all learn from our disasters.

Ya, conversion is a pain. I'm in the group that doesn't understand metric when logically it should be simple.

 

[Neko-chan]

The Man likes it, but it's an ugly little loaf. I need to make some candied orange peel (or rather, I think orange zest would be better) and use it next time. And yes, I have a convection oven. It's a lovely little machine, but it's hot.