Chocolate Banana Bread | Home Movies with Alison Roman

banana three merc banana three whoa that  my voice really did a crazy thing there   now it's wild wow okay um that was shocking   hello everybody welcome to Home Movies today we  are doing a little bit of baking it is baking   day on Home Movies which is something that we  don't really do often in fact we've only done two   desserts in this apartment banana cream pudding  and peach pie right twice did we shoot that video   twice oh yeah cause the first one I picked up  anyway it doesn't matter we all make mistakes   we're all just doing our best today we're gonna be  making a chocolate banana bread why are we doing a   chocolate banana bread it is somebody's birthday  and that somebody is our fearless Dan Hurwitz who   is responsible for why these videos look  so wonderful for why they're so funny   every time somebody's like oh my god the editing  is so good the jokes are so funny that like don't   come out of my mouth I mean we all we're all in  the writers room but dan is the writer's room you   know what I mean we want to say thank you dan by  a making him a delicious treat but also by helping   dan grow a little bit into this new year this new  chapter in his life because dan cook sometimes but   he's not a baker by his own admission he's he's  afraid of it he doesn't like it he doesn't trust   it I think dan's anxiousness sort of rises to  the top when it comes to things involving baking   and so you know banana bread is like not so easy  as like a one bowl dump and stir but it's like   attainable for anyone of all baking levels and  so we wanted to sort of illustrate that with   somebody who simply does not bake uh dan do  you want to come say hello oh man I love this   it's very weird very weird being on this side  of the camera yes whoa very intense I know it's   a good experience it's good it's like oh now I  get it you know we should have done this a year   ago yeah exactly we should have we should have  had you all be here so that there's like a bit   of an empathetic and I should carry a camera  around for eight hours yes you're nervous for   me no you're doing great better than myself that  was a very nice intro thank you very much you're   welcome it's true you're brilliant I'm not my real  birthday but yeah well when the episode comes out   it will be his birthday sort of like with your  chicken salad but you know whose birthday it is   today the day we're shooting is dan roman  so it's like Dan Hurwitz birthday special   dan roman actual birthday we tried to facetime  him but he didn't answer so we'll try back later   but just know that we're thinking of you dan  roman happy birthday we love you real quick   we don't want to take up too much of your time  because you got to get back to work over there   but I want to know as speaking on behalf of  the community of people who are not into baking   tell me uh what it is about this that like is  something that you just wouldn't even attempt I   I'm down to attempt it it's just like I feel  like baking it's like I make one mistake   and then it's ruined and it'll be like oh the  dough doesn't look how I want it to look like   I don't know how to fix it sometimes it just like  doesn't work and then I feel like not your recipe   I feel like you're baking recipes are a little  bit more forgivable forgivable yeah thank you   forgivable we're gonna work through this um again  you don't have to stand here the whole time I'm   gonna stand here the whole time I mean you could  we're happy to have you but just sort of like this   is a basic sort of cakeish batter we're calling  it banana bread I don't know how it got that name   banana bread is decidedly a cake in my opinion so  it's like everything you love about banana bread   also everything you love about chocolate cake deep  banana flavor moist rich texture there's a crunchy   top which I'm sure you'll be a huge fan of it can  sit on your counter for like a full week while you   eat it you can toast it in butter eat it with ice  cream have some more creme fraiche on top serve   it with whipped cream bring it to your friends  bring it to your fiance's family this banana bread   does it all great intro is there anything else  you want to tell the internet while you're   well you have to well you have the floor yeah  like and subscribe um nice nice love yeah thanks   for watching Home Movies um wouldn't it be  funny if dan like didn't leave and he was like   yes goodbye now I tasted that's  what's happening I've tasted it where do I look so yeah welcome to Home Movies I'm Alison  Roman sorry I'll leave all right bye 17 years ago at this point I was a pastry chef at  a restaurant I used to keep notebooks this used to   be elastic of all of my recipes here is the first  version of this banana bread that I ever made   it doesn't have chocolate in it it's a very  basic eggs butter sugar salt flour baking soda   banana and mascarpone and this banana bread  came from the chef named michelle bra which   was like my idol back in the day this was like  the first chef I ever really fell in love with   he's based in france very like bougie high-end  true artist of his craft and this is one of his   books that he published that was just on desserts  it's called the notebooks of michelle bra desserts   most of these recipes as I tried to make them as  like a young pastry chef didn't really work like   they they didn't quite come out how I thought that  they would but there was one recipe that did work   and it was banana bread he calls it a banana cake  and he got this recipe from an american friend   which I always found really interesting and  he uses fromage blanc which is like a french   sort of sour soft cheese and chopped walnuts which  is the thing that a lot of people like to put in   their banana bread it's not for me but when it  came time for me to write dining in which was   my first book I felt like that was like a chance  for me to like have recipes that had meaning to me   that sort of defined my career and trajectory up  until that point and this banana bread to me like   always stuck out as like the quintessential best  version of that thing of which there are gajillion   recipes in the world I thought in order to make  it a little different I wanted it to be chocolatey   and sort of like make it scalable to like be in  a nice loaf pan so I took this recipe which came   from this recipe which came from another recipe  into the recipe that we are going to make right   now today for you and for dan and for my dad in  its most basic form banana bread is mostly banana   right that's why it's so good it's so moist so  delicious and that's why it's like harder to mess   up because the ratio of flour to banana ensures  that your cake will always be really tender really   moist so most people when they have a hard time  with cake they're like it doesn't rise enough it's   too dry it's too something like I don't know I  feel like the texture is weird but because this is   mostly just ripe bananas like barely held together  with like a little bit of butter flour sugar   etc it like will almost always work no matter  what everything that freaks people out about   under baking over baking cake it doesn't really  happen with banana bread which is why I feel like   it's such a popular recipe for people that are not  that into baking so this version is just like all   those other classic versions except no there will  not be any dried fruit no there will definitely   not be any nuts and yes there will be a little  bit of cocoa powder which will make it taste   really chocolatey I'm going to start by measuring  out my dry ingredients these are bananas that I   bought maybe a week ago I leave them hanging in my  window to ripen which I have another fresh batch   over there one thing that is funny about banana  bread to me or me making it is that the smell   of ripe bananas I hate it but I love banana bread  I love it so much so to me like if you have that   experience just know that you're seen I always  advocate for baking with a scale not with cups   and tablespoons but we are in new york which is  in the united states of america and that's how we   measure things here so if you have a scale please  know that the measurements will be given to you   on the recipe which you can find in the link below  but otherwise for these purposes I'm just going   to use good old cups and teaspoons and whatever  because that's what most people have access to   so I'm going to start with one and a half cups  of all-purpose flour I don't think that whole   wheat flour belongs in this particular recipe I  think the flavor would be kind of lost I'm not   gonna even offer that as an option here scooping  and leveling as per usual and then there's a half   a cup of cocoa powder which doesn't seem like a  ton but cocoa powder is very fine and very porous   and it absorbs liquid much differently than flour  so that means one of two things one that's has a   tendency to dry cakes out so I've compensated for  that in other ways by adding more fat more butter   but just know that like it's not a one for one  swap so you can't take any banana bread recipe   and just be like oh it's a cup and a half of flour  I'll use a half a cup of cocoa powder instead   it'll change the texture too much you kind of have  to like tweak it based on the ratio and what else   is in the cake itself cocoa powder also will get  absolutely get everywhere because it's so fine   one time like when I first started a job somebody  was like go fill this like they handed me a clear   container and they're like go fill this up with  cocoa powder and there was like this giant bat   of cocoa powder and I like dunked the thing in and  the cocoa powder just absolutely went all over me   all over everything around the area and it  was extremely embarrassing nobody saw cause   I was like in a room alone but I was gone for a  really long time a half a cup of cocoa powder wow banana three oh my god are we a stomp whatever  happened to stomp still go there wow really i like etard cocoa powder who's counting but I  think it's a great cocoa powder this is tough for   me because I'm contradicting a lot of like rules  about baking baking soda needs acid to activate   this recipe doesn't really have any except in  the style of mascarpone which can be like a tangy   cheese but the mascarpone that we get normally in  the states isn't that tangy so why is the baking   soda in here well it's because it was in the  original recipe and I tried it without it I tried   it with baking powder and the texture was too  cake-like and I tried it without it all together   and it was too dense so I'm like well it's got to  be doing something so any people that understand   science and baking more than I do please sound  off in the comments even if it's superstition   it's kind of like adding seltzer water to your  matzo balls like I do it and I just do it and   that's that oh sorry teaspoon of salt a teaspoon  of baking soda cocoa powder and flour and these   are our dry ingredients which again I'm not going  to bother sifting couldn't pay me to sift oh you   know what I take it back there is acid in baking  or in brown sugar that's why the recipe works   I didn't even look that up I just remembered light  brown sugar has is situated I don't that I don't   know why I'm like 80 on facts that's pretty good  in this mixing bowl and you could use a handheld   mixer if you don't have a stand mixer I just find  stand mixers to be so worth the purchase even if   you only use it like once or twice a year it's  it's so useful you'll have it forever this is six   tablespoons of unsalted butter aka three quarters  of a stick if you only had salted butter you could   make that work just cut back on the salt that  goes into the dry ingredients I like using regular   sugar and light brown sugar this is another  amendment to the original recipe which only had   granulated sugar but I think that in combination  with the cocoa powder light brown sugar   a adds really nice texture and like moistness to  the in like finished product but also just a nice   like depth of flavor that white sugar doesn't get  you and also the interesting thing about banana   bread is whenever I'm making it I'm always like  is this gonna make enough to like fill a loaf like   three quart you know six tablespoons of butter  like a quarter cup of sugar like you realize   how much of this cake is really just bananas  and then a third of a cup of granulated sugar   I'm also going to add a teaspoon of vanilla  extract to this butter sugar mixture I'm going to let that sit for a second while  I talk about the bananas I would normally   just get that going but it's so loud so  we'll talk about the bananas first I'm   going to use just a regular fork to match  these bananas and when we say when we   the collective bakers recipe writers of  america of the world say very ripe bananas   we want I mean I want I can't speak for everyone  obviously there's many of us but I really want   them to be like mushy and like really overly  ripe those bananas will never work these bananas   have ripened to the point of like mushiness  the skin gets darker you can smell them which   but the reason being is that bananas really  change in flavor and they continue to ripen   when they're after they're picked so these  are like super super ripe the tannins have   really mellowed out they're sweeter than an unripe  banana they're less starchy than an unripe banana   so it's not just flavor and texture it's the whole  package everything is better about this for this   specific dessert so this recipe calls for five  ripe bananas I always pick the firmest of the five   and it happens to be this one and that's the  one that's going to go on top as decor if all   your bananas are like past the point of no return  and they're just meant to be baked into a banana   bread or using frozen ripe bananas which is  also great you can definitely use a regular   banana for the top garnish that won't impact the  end result it's just the bananas that go into   the banana bread that you want to be like very  very very mushy so I'm just going to peel them   I really hate this do you want them to help you  while you are you guys want me back on camera no   problem you just peel them sure I hate the smell  of these bananas and then you're going to mush   them with a fork like this and a child could do  this a child is doing this yeah you're not looking   for a puree you're looking for a mash let's see  if dan ramen's available you want me to match them   he's simply not answering I don't know how am I  doing you're doing great okay so dan did a great   job thank you dan this is as far as I like to take  them see how there's like still pieces of banana   when we add it to the batter it's going to  continue to sort of break up the banana and   I don't like a banana that's too uniform in  texture I like it when there's like you know   some chunk of banana so you'll feel the chunk  of banana like when you slice into it yeah   it's this one it's like because it's chocolate  it's like tougher to see but you know there's like   banana flavor in each bite and like sometimes you  can see like a little piece of banana somewhere it   is a very pungent smell it's it's yeah okay damn  hold it down I look for this loaf pan I like to   leave my banana a little bit leafy spriggy of  course um and then this egg agga's just here all right I'm leaving bye bye oh the last and final step before we start mixing  everything um this mascarpone is just going to go   in we don't need to measure it this egg is just  going to go in we don't need to measure it I'm   going to preheat the oven to 350. and then I'm  going to spray our loaf pan with nonstick spray   and then sprinkle it with some coarse sugar  in the raw if you don't have this you can use   regular granulated sugar you can also skip this  step altogether but I really feel like this step   to me makes this banana bread really  special it is a gorgeous gorgeous crust   on like what is a very soft and custardy interior  and it makes it feel like a complete dish baked   good and it really kind of takes it to like  special occasion-y snack dessert level rather   than like a dumpy breakfast item you could also  do this with softened butter but I find nonstick   spray to be great and I'm using a standard  nine by four loaf pan low pans are tricky   I actually find them to be completely like  unregulated in their sizing and so sometimes   it's like nine and a quarter by like seven and  three eighths and it doesn't make any sense so I just fill it with sugar and then I  kind of just do this oh someone's calling   it's dad dan come back happy birthday happy  birthday thank you it's dan's birthday soon   I'm a different dan yes I know but you know we  have to stick together we do it's true stay strong   you look so cute today you look so like happy and  birthday ipad I'll show you what they did for me a shrine that's my dad as a blue man oh wow  look how young you look there that was 50.   what birthday is that this is 67. wow nice you  look great yeah he does look great well happy   birthday we love you so much and we hope that  you have a wonderful rest of your day but I'll   call you later bye all right thanks guys happy  birthday thank you back to baking back to baking   I lined this with sugar and I just kind of moved  it around so it was evenly coated on all sides and   I'm tapping out the extras and you can always  repurpose this we're going to sprinkle some   on top so that's what I'm going to use this for  all right prepared pan check we have our butter   our sugar our brown sugar and our vanilla in  this bowl we have our flour cocoa powder baking   soda and salt in this bowl these are mashed  bananas this is our mascarpone which is a soft   italian creamy cheese you could definitely use  yogurt you could absolutely use sour cream you   could also use lavender which is like a strained  yogurt cheese I've used all four of those things   you can't tell the difference they're all perfect  in this recipe I like mascarpone because that's   again sort of like where the origin came from  and I like to honor the history of this recipe   but all of them work I know mascarpone is not  the easiest to find I'm going to start this on   like a medium speed and then just kind of let  it rip I didn't bother cutting up the butter or   anything because it's room temp and I know it's  just going to break down and it's like no point   I'm going to let this beat for like four to five  minutes and I know that sounds like a long time   but part of the success of a banana bread recipe  and a lot of cake recipes where you're beating the   butter and sugar together involves like building  air into that butterfly mixture you'll notice that   I can show you now actually see how like dense  and pasty it looks after about four to five   minutes it's gonna look really really light and  pale and fluffy almost like frosting from a can   or something like that it's like a noticeable  color change so we'll see you in like 45 minutes   already you can see if you ever make  chocolate chip cookies it starts the same way   I'm just scraping it down because there's not that  much butter and sugar in this bowl so you do have   to kind of like encourage it to keep working  for you he'd take another two to three minutes   so see how much lighter in color it is and how  much fluffier it is it almost looks like there's   more of it well there sort of is because there's  air in it now but so I just scraped on the sides   again and now I'm gonna add the egg we're  gonna beat it for like another two minutes   and then we can add everything  else pretty quickly and get this   little thread into the oven just  gonna crack it right in there   the stand mixer is really like an amazing  invention you know me I don't advocate for   the use of tools I've never used a blender on this  show I've used a food processor like once I love   my stand mixer it justifies its use every time  I use it like sure you could do some stuff by   hand but it's going to make your life a lot harder  and the end product won't be as good to me it's a   worthy investment and I bet if you live in an area  that is like a metropolitan area you can search on   craigslist for like a lot of electronic repair  shops will sell back appliances that they've   repaired I don't know there's like ways to get  them that aren't brand new that will still be   really functional for you all right so see how  wonderful and creamy and delicious that looks all right I'm gonna add our bananas and I'm  actually gonna go ahead and add the eyes and this is gonna be a really slow mix the  mascarpone I'm gonna add right at the end   banana bread is a very thick batter okay so it's almost all the way mixed  see how thick it is but you can see   like there's still like nice little pieces of  banana in there I'm gonna add the mascarpone no just like until you don't  want this to be totally mixed because we don't want to over mix the flour and that's it I'm always a big fan of finishing up  the last bit of mixing by hand because I feel like   it really prevents over mixing and that's the  case with almost anything that I'm doing in a   stand mixer whipping cream cake batter cake dough  bread dough cookie batter over mixing is like you   know in your heart when you've mixed it too much  like you're like oh I've been mixing this for a   long time like just don't mix it until it just  barely looks mixed together like this you're not   looking for a lump free experience because banana  bread has bananas in it it will always have lumps well I know it always also will look  so much thicker than it should and   that's because again this is mostly  banana bananas will never be liquid   it's not like a cake batter where there's like  oil and buttermilk and liquid in it this has   bananas in it like sort of barely held together  buy some flour cocoa powder sugar butter et cetera it's cake yeah it's like the drake meme of like  banana like dessert no but banana bread yes   and it's like I love drink you want to smooth  it as much as possible this is going to rise   quite a bit so don't worry about like how  robust this will look it's it's pretty robust   and then for our last and final trick I'm  going to take this banana and I'm going to   slice it down the middle I keep the peel on just  to kind of protect my hands from the soupiness but   banana in half and you can lay it right on top  and this works with any banana bread recipe if you   want to like do something fun with it I don't know  cute and then a lot more of this demo sugar on top cool this is going to go into our 350 degree  oven for at least an hour probably close to an   hour and a half this is a dense doughy thick brick  of batter it takes time to properly bake through   if possible always bake your  cakes on the middle of the rack there we go it's been an hour and 20 25 minutes our banana  bread is ready our bananas did some cookie things   when it was in the oven that's okay we love  it anyway we're gonna take it out and it's   gonna cool for like another half hour to  an hour as long as you can wait honestly   it does look amazing sometimes the bananas like  just kind of sit perfectly and behave these ones   they lindsey buckingham and they went their own  way the banana is tender and caramelized it smells   amazing you can tell it's done because you're  pressing on it slightly and like it's springing   back it's no longer like mushy or gummy or pudding  like in the center here so I'm just gonna let it   cool if you have a wire rack you can set it on  there otherwise on top of your stove is fine turn   your oven off and uh we'll see you in like a half  hour so we can take a slice and uh have a snack our banana bread is ready it's still warm but you  know we have things to do we got to move on this   is called an off a small offset spatula um it's  called offset because it is offset it's like it's   it has a raised handle rather than a straight line  which is like a knife either work for this purpose   this is a tool that I use constantly it's great  for frosting cakes it's great for getting things   out of a pan you can like lift stuff up it's very  useful even though hey this is a non-stick pan   and we've sprayed it with non-stick spray there's  always like one little part that will stick   so just go around the perimeter and make sure  that nothing is standing in the way between you   and this banana bread coming out in one beautiful  free piece you could line it with parchment I do   find that when you do that the sugar doesn't  stick as well to the side it kind of gets like   clumpy and I don't know it's it's  fine it's just this to me is better so there's nothing left in there all of  that sugar is stuck to the sides here   this is again like I said it's still pretty  warm I like to cool completely on a wire rack   because a cake it's like a it needs  to rest it needs to settle it needs   to like fully bake it's still like radiating  heat like there's stuff still happening in   there I don't know it's like also a  textural thing we can cut off an end look how good that looks oh yay I made a wish yeah I wish for  that million subscriber plaque we're so far from that maybe in  maybe it for your 40th birthday here   yeah should I take a bite at the end yeah  I mean are you a corner are you a middle how was it dad the brown sugar on the edges is  like a very nice crispy touch yeah it's great   what's not to like chocolatey bananay crunchy  you're watching the entire thing what would   you say you've learned today I've learned like I  don't know just be cool be calm like it'll be okay   relax relax don't get anxious like if you're like  I'm so nervous I'm gonna be on camera but then   you get up here and you're like wait oh yeah  I love it yeah I also just like baking I love   couldn't simply could not get him to step up  yeah I'm I live here now in front of my camera   oh my god again this is definitely more of a cake  it is gonna stay moist for a really long time so   for me this is sort of the ideal like afternoon  snacking cake it also slices really nicely into   large pieces so if you want to freeze half for  later or drops them off to a neighbor give some   to a friend it's a really nice cake that will keep  for a very long time give it away as a gift keep   some in the freezer keep it on the counter for a  week take a slice whenever you need a little sweet   treat I love this recipe I love it too thank you  so much for making it thank you for being open   to learning how to bake and always thank  you for being here you're such a natural   we didn't know dude you want to sing us  uh I haven't planned one but and goodbye   you gotta say okay fine am I saying bye bye you're still sitting here thank  you so much for watching this very   special episode usually I yell cut  so it's hard wow yeah we're unmoored

Channel: Alison Roman

Views: 297,673

Keywords: chocolate banana bread, banana bread, chocolate banana bread recipe, banana bread recipe, best chocolate banana bread, best banana bread, easy chocolate banana bread, easy banana bread, simple chocolate banana bread, simple banana bread, quick chocolate banana bread, how to make banana bread, alison roman, home movies with alison roman, a newsletter, nothing fancy, dining in, cooking, cooks, baking, bakes, recipes, recipe, how-to, how to, kitchen, food, chef, home cooking

Id: 4Kj9hJqon-Y

Length: 27min 5sec (1625 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 22 2022