Nanana But

In case you're wondering, I am still excited about baking this week, just as much as I was last week (much to even my own surprise - judging from my previous track record of hobbies)!

In the oven right at this moment is Martha Stewart's former brand manager, Deanna Caceres Cahn's Banana Nut Bread... 30 minutes left to go and it smells wonderful! Now if only I can make it taste wonderful.

I was in the process of using this recipe, when Tran emailed me her co-worker's banana nut bread recipe which called for butter (instead of vegetable oil) and three times more buttermilk. Does anyone know the advantages or disadvantages of the three ingredients? And if I have a convection oven, when should I use that function versus just regular "bake?" HELP.

To ease myself into the art of baking, I've been choosing the most simple recipes from Martha's book, based on ingredients I already have in the *kitchen i.e. a half gallon carton of buttermilk, leftover from the last batch of biscuits I made for Thanksgiving. My plan is to experiment with all the recipes that call for buttermilk as much as I can, so I never have to buy buttermilk ever again! lol Hence, this banana nut bread.

OK. Fiiine.

*Who am I kidding? I've spent more time in a grocery store (buying ingredients) the past two weeks than I have in the last five years combined. Michael said to me last night as we were roaming the grocery store aisles, "Isn't it funny that you have to buy more ingredients just so that you can use your existing ingredients?" o_O

On top of that, I don't even eat the things I bake! Not because I'm afraid of food poisoning or anything like that :P but fruity bread and biscuits just don't do it for me. I'm more of a chocolate/cake/cupcake/ice cream kind of a gal. But I'm not sure I'm ready to venture into the realm of cakes. Even cupcakes. And 0h how I would looove to be able to whip up Italian Panettones (traditional Xmas bread cakes from Milan) for everyone for Christmas, but I am deathly afraid of yeast!!! Don't ask me why. I have no idea. I'm guessing I overheard a group of women complaining about yeast when I was a kid (maybe it was a different kind of yeast - haha juuuuust kidding :) and apparently, I was affected by it. Hopefully by Christmas 2010, I will have overcome my fear of yeast and start on those Panettones!

Oooh! The BNB is done now! Aha! Two slices for Michael, my unofficial taste tester! I can actually tell if something is good, by the amount of time he spends chewing on it and what his expression is like when he's swallowing it :)