Sourdough Banana Bread

I just finished my sourdough starter and am praying that it's okay. I was, and am still, a little concerned about it not being right. I got varying information in all of my research, with some sites saying to cover with plastic wrap and others saying to cover with cheesecloth. I had some saying to feed once per day and others feeding every 12 hours. Hmm, what's a girl to do?

I decided to make a batch of Sourdough Banana Bread since I have the sourdough and bananas needing to be used. I took the recipe from Wild Yeast Blog and tweaked it slightly. I don't like using a lot of oil in my baking so I substituted 1/2 cup of applesauce for 1/2 cup of the olive oil, used 250 g. of Sucanat and 50 g. of honey, left out the lemon zest and used all banana. I also added about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to one loaf. This recipe made two 8x5-inch pans and one smaller loaf.

In addition to this banana bread I plan to make Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes, No-Knead Sourdough Bread, Sourdough Bread, and Pancakes.

In order to make all of these wonderful things, I've placed several items on my Amazon wishlist, including a digital scale, The Bread Bible book, Silpat, and Kefir grains. I'm so excited to begin this amazing journey! I can't wait to get them ordered.

October 18, 2011 Update: The banana bread is wonderful. It's nice and moist and full of flavor. The pancakes this morning turned out fine, though a bit tough. I think they would be wonderful as a cross between bread and tortillas. I put fresh peanut butter (from Whole Foods) and raspberry jam on mine to make a sandwich. 


I decided not to make the cupcakes as I didn't keep enough starter out. I put roughly 2 cups in the refrigerator and left one cup out. I added 1 cup of flour and 2/3 cup of water to the one I left out and it grew slightly overnight. I used that this morning for the pancakes, No-Knead bread and regular sourdough bread. The sourdough bread is currently in its final rise and waiting to go into the oven. The No-Knead is in its overnight resting phase and will be baked around mid-day tomorrow.


I couldn't wait any longer and ordered my Kefir grains and the digital scale last night.