Yeast Breads ~ No Knead Banana Bread

Event: Blogging marathon #40
Theme: Yeast based breads

We rarely run out of bananas as my husband keeps bringing them during each and every grocery trip. It is a fruit neither appreciated nor shunned at my home and somehow there are always a couple of bananas at the end, left hanging onto the stand. When the left overs are on their way to get overly ripened and attract fruit flies, I have to shrug off my lethargy and go search for recipes. Those kind of recipes where the final dish is appreciated by the majority of the family without an inkling about what went into it. In other words, baking does the trick most of the times. This time I was left with some more even after I had made muffins. And besides that, at the last minute the bulb went on that I had selected yeast breads as my theme for this week's marathon. I therefore went hunting for yeast based banana bread recipes so that I can kill two birds with one stone.
  
I ended up here during my quest and used the cardamom flavored rolls' recipe to bake a loaf. If you are looking for a bread with subtle banana flavor and a hint of sweetness, then this is the recipe you may like. It is not that sweet, quick bread kind where you dig into crunchy bits of walnuts with the goodness of banana flavor oozing from it. It is out and out a plain kind bread with perfect texture and goes well with a jam / jelly / Nutella spread. I would suggest to skip the cardamom if you are planning a loaf. Some how I didn't find the cardamom and the jam (or whatever spread you prefer) flavors jelling well. 
A very easy bread to put together manually and the fun part is you don't even need to knead. One would just need to combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and leave it to rise. It's that simple and quick - done under 5 minutes and cleanup is a cinch.

Ingredients: (1 loaf / 8 rolls)
1.5 tsp dry active yeast
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 buttermilk or 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 tsp vinegar
1 cup mashed bananas
3 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour 

Method:
* If using milk and vinegar in place of buttermilk, combine both and leave aside for about 3 -4 minutes.
* Combine everything except the flour in a big mixing bowl. 
* Then add the flour and just mix well to combine. The resulting dough would be on a sticky side. 

* Cover and leave it to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until it doubles and collapses.

* Grease a loaf pan and transfer the dough to it. Cover the pan with a wet towel and leave aside to rise again for about 45 to 60 minutes.
* This recipe was originally for rolls. If you are planning to make rolls, refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes so that it would be easy to handle while rolling them. Divide the dough into 8 portions, dust the working surface and shape them into rolls. Arrange the rolls in a greased cake pan, cover and allow to rise again for about 45 minutes.
* Preheat the oven at 350 deg F or 180 deg C. Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes till done and golden brown. Remove, cool and slice the loaf.

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