Fat Loss 4 Idiots Opinion

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

How Did We End Up With The First Banana Bread Recipe?

By Ben Cook

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.

While history is earmarked with culinary revolution from the earliest days to the last days of this week, the dawn of the banana bread recipe is harder to track than some of the other breakthroughs in cooking. Despite the difficulties in pinpointing the exact first banana bread attempt, there is plenty of evidence that can show us how the evolutionary experimentation infolded. This can help us understand what we are looking at and the most likely scenario for that time period.

If we look at the evolution of the basic banana bread recipe ingredients we can most likely gauge when the first actual recipe was handed down and where it was probably developed. All banana bread recipes are quick bread recipes. This simply means that there is no yeast used for rising in the baking process.

12, 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.

The 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.

Bread 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.

The 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 desirability

Eventually these first banana bread recipe attempts would grow into what we now lovingly call banana bread through the addition of a leavening agent. In this case, the leavening agent is baking powder. This single ingredient can give the loaf just enough power to rise without turning it into a yeast bread. Baking powder was brought to the United States in 1875. This addition to the ingredients gives credence to the claim that the first banana bread recipe was developed in 18th century America. - 17269

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