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The First Attempts To Make A Banana Bread Recipe

10.31.2009 · Posted in Home and Garden Articles

Anyone who loves a good banana bread recipe will appreciate all of the evolution that brought it to us. Creating foods has been part of every culture since the Neanderthal. Of course, the more we know about a single food’s history the more we are likely to create a palette that coincides with the food’s original flavor as well as with today’s modern adjustments.nnWe can not say with absolute certainty when and where the first banana bread recipe surfaced. It was likely an experiment that went over well and was copied over and over again. It was probably not documented considering the time in history. Cooking skills were passed on from either the servant or the mother to little girls who might need them some day.nnWhen bread was first developed, it was what we now call today, a quick bread. Banana bread recipes fall under this category as well. Quick bread is simply a bread recipe that is devoid of yeast. It means that it can be finished faster and the cooking time is shorter. Waiting for yeast to rise can be a long process. Of course, when bread was first discovered as a viable food source, it wasn’t designed to be eaten as a dessert of fancy bread. It was designed to fill the void and travel well.nn12, 000 years ago bread was initially developed and became a staple of the dietary needs. It began to grow onto a more flavorful and delicate recipe much later. The simplest version of bread is nothing more than wheat flour and some water that was mashed together and then placed on hot rocks. In order to speed the heating process, the flat rocks were also covered from the top with hot ash.nnThe face of bread was changed by the Egyptians. There is evidence that the Egyptians were able to lighten the bread and give it a less dense taste when they realized that the dough made from wheat could ferment. The fermentation process produced gas that created lighter bread. This is believed to have occurred about 4, 000 BC.nnBread was changed dramatically 6, 000 years later when the Egyptians figured out that bread dough made from wheat could rise provided that there was an appropriate place to ferment the dough. This added air, which in turn created a softer more palatable bread.nnThe banana bread recipes we know today have been significantly altered from the original breads that were made from what we now know and eat today. One of the most significant improvements to the bread included leavening. Instead of fermenting wheat dough, adding water and mashed bananas to cook quickly on hot stones, adding lightness to the bread would improve its taste and desirabilitynnWhile these original banana bread recipes are not the same as our favorites today, they were the very origin that led to the banana bread recipes that even we pass on from time to time. Today, we add baking powder to our banana bread recipe to create leavening. This helps the bread rise. Yeast would make the bread rise too much while no leavening ingredient would create flat, hard, and chewy bread. In 1875, almost 100 years after the first American cookbook was written, baking powder would become an American staple. Thus, it is said that the first banana bread was created in the United States in the 18th century.

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