Bananas

I thought I'd heard somewhere that you could freeze bananas, but I've discovered that's not really the case. I mean, you can freeze them, but when I thawed them out to use them, no lie, it was like banana pudding encased in the peel. Now, I made banana bread with them so as not to waist them, and it turned out just great. So, you could definitely use this method with newer bananas if you wanted to get them soft for banana bread without having to wait for them to ripen. However, unless there is some trick I'm missing, bananas are definitely going under the Not That! section of my Freeze This page. Just in case you're looking for a great basic banana bread, here's a great one from the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary book. It calls for whole wheat flour, but I usually do half whole wheat and have all-purpose to cut down on the density.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread
1/2 C. (1 stick) butter
1 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 C. mashed ripe banana (2 or 3 bananas)
1 t. vanilla
2 C. King Arthur Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional, pecans are also good)

1. Cream butter and sugar in a pretty big bowl.
2. Add vanilla, bananas, and eggs. Get your mix on.
3. Mix your dry ingredients (no nuts yet).
4. Stir wet stuff into the dry (now add the nuts). "Let's get nuts!" (Name that tv show quote)
5. Pour into a greased 9x5" loaf pan (or muffin tin) and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50ish minutes (less for muffins). Let it cool for 5-10, and then take the bread out to cool on a rack.

Sorry no picture, but you probably know what banana bread looks like, right? Enjoy!