Banana Rye Yeast Bread

As it has been a while since we last bake a loaf of yeast bread. Today, we decide to bake a loaf of banana rye yeast bread so that it can be used as our sandwich bread for the coming week. The recipe is adapted from About.com: Bread Baking. We like this recipe as we find it to have certain elements of nutrition and at the same time it is versatile.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium bananas (mashed into 1 cup)
  
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 cup rye flour
• 2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups all purposed flour
  

Steps:

1. Combine yeast, warm water and milk in a small bowl. Stir until all well mixed and leave for 5 minutes.
2. Place a cup of mashed potatoes into a large bowl and stir in the yeast solution.
3. Then, add in rye flour, brown sugar, oil, and salt.
   
4. Gradually, mix in the all purpose flour to make a thick dough that can be kneaded by hand.
5. Place the dough out onto board and knead for 5 minutes.
6. On another large bowl, grease the bowl with a small amount of oil. Place the dough in the bowl and flip the dough to cover the dough with oil.
7. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for an hour and half in a warm place until it has doubled.
8. After an hour and a half, remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Punch down in the dough to release the air from the bread and knead out bubbles for 5 minutes.
9. Shape the dough into a 8 inches log and place into a lightly 9 x 5 grease loaf pan.
10. Cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap and let it rise for another 50 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and place the loaf pan in center of oven for 10 minutes, then at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes. For the last 15 minutes of baking, loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil.
12. You can test if the bread is done by thumping the bottom of the bread and it should sound hollow.
    
13. Let the bread cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before slicing it

The bread is just out from the oven and it is looking great. Let it cool down a bit and we will post some photos. Can't wait to try it!