Burnt Butter, Banana & Almond Quick Bread

There's a stall in the market on a Saturday morning that sells the most beautiful crunchy breads. In fact there are a few stalls but one in particular is a local baker and he makes the most amazing loaves of sourdough. I don't bother to make bread usually, because we have a baker who surpasses me in every conceivable way, right at that market. I don't even bother with soda breads. My Mom takes care of all of that. I dabble in the worlds of pastries, cakes and cookies. I let those who can, make bread!

This week was 'Bread Week' on the Great British Bake Off and the choices were really good ones... The contestants had to make, a no rise quick bread, baguettes and a breaded sculpture. When it boiled down to it, the choice really wasn't that hard for me. I bake for me, my family and friends. i bake to share, so that knocked the sculpture out, the baguettes following close behind. 

There were three bananas that had seen better days, wasting away in my fruit bowl so I decided to make a quick bread. But added a little twist or two to it along the way...

This recipe follows your basic banana bread recipe, but I have complimented the flavours with a few very simple additions.

The first being Burnt Butter, which is literally what it says it is.. Burnt. Butter. You dump the amount of butter you need into a frying pan and let it melt down, and go golden. It releases this lovely nutty aroma, adds a hint of golden brown and another flavour layer to your baking. It's this wonderful, yet incredibly simple thing to do!

To meld with that nutty butter flavour, I also added ground almonds. Not so much that they over powered the flavour in the bread, but more that they complimented that whole loaf. Tossed some flaked and toasted almonds on the top and there you go...

Burnt Butter, Banana & Almond Quick Bread

3/4 very ripe bananas
80g of butter, melted and burnt
250g soft brown sugar
1 large egg
325g self raising flour
50g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
125ml buttermilk
handful of flaked almonds, toasted

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F or Gas Mark 4.
Toss the flaked almonds on a baking tray and leave in the oven for 5-10 minutes to toast up.
In a pan, melt your butter over a medium heat until completely melted and has turned a deeper golden colour.
In a bowl, mash your bananas with a fork and pour in the burnt butter.
Add the sugar, egg, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and buttermilk and mix until fully combined.
Transfer to a large loaf tin, that you have lined with parchment. Sprinkle the flaked almonds across the top.
Bake on the middle shelf for 40-50 minutes, until the top is golden or when a skewer is inserted into the middle it comes out clear.
Remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling tray. Leave to cool in the tin fully and slice to serve.

Try some the following day for breakfast, toasted, with a swipe of peanut butter across the top. Or have in the afternoon with a big mug of tea! Whatever you have it... enjoy it!

Linking up with the wonderful Jenny over at MummyMishaps and the ever so lovely Jo of Jo's Kitchen who is our host for this week. Be sure to swing by Jo's linky to see what all the other bloggers made for Bread Week.