Coconut Banana Bread

This is the recipe for the Coconut-Banana Bread. There are many different ways to go about this recipe, and this instructable outlines just one of the many ways that are possible. It is important to have all of the ingredients and utensils ready before cooking, to make sure that your bread can be made without a hitch. Included with the directions for making the bread, helpful hints will be included to hopefully make the process go smoothly, and help you enjoy your bread as soon as possible!

The utensils that are required are as follows:

1. Handheld mixer
2. Beaters for the mixer
3. Large Mixing bowl
4. Teaspoon measuring cups
5. 1 Cup and 1/2 cup measuring cups

Alternative utensils -- For example, should you not have access to a handheld mixer or beaters, a mashing tool sometimes used to make mashed potatoes will be acceptable, although, will require a bit more elbow grease.

The ingredients required are as shown:

1. 2 cups of flour
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 2 eggs
4. 1 teaspoon of baking soda
5. 1/4 teaspoon of salt
6. 1/2 cup coconut
7. 1/2 cup of water
8. 3 small bananas or 2 large bananas
9. Pam or baking grease for the cooking pan

The process of preparation will follow this step, but again it is useful to have everything together. First, to make sure you have all the ingredients beforehand, so that while in the process of preparation, the ingredients will be at arm’s reach from the area.

Unwrap one, eight tablespoon stick of butter and place it in the mixing bowl.  Measure out one cup of sugar with the measuring cups and add it to the mixing bowl as well.

Use a handheld mixer to cream the butter and sugar.

Crack two eggs and place them in the bowl with 3 small peeled bananas. Use the handheld mixer to blend the dough to an even consistency.

Add two cups of flour into a separate bowl. Then add 1 tsp. of baking soda and a 1/4 tsp. of salt. When measuring out these contents make sure that you are not packing the ingredients into the measure devices but rather just pushing the excess ingredients off the top of the measuring device.

Pour the flour mixture into the mixing bowl. Then use the handheld mixer to mix the dough to an even consistency.

Caution: Do not over mix as this will cause the bread to be tough.

Add the half cup of coconut and half cup of water to the batter in the mixing bowl. This prevents the banana bread from being tough and will make for a softer bread.

Using a handheld mixer, mix the coconut and water into the batter until an even consistency is reached, and the flakes of coconut are evenly distributed.

Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and allow it to preheat. A timer with a 1 hour setting will be required to time the baking process.

Helpful Hint: If you oven takes awhile to pre-heat, first pre-heat the oven then start making the banana bread dough.

First spray cooking oil in the bottom of the pan. This helps once the banana bread is done baking. It will be much easier to get the bread out of the pan, because it will not stick to the bottom of the pan.

After spraying cooking oil in the bottom of the pan, you need to spread it all around the pan. Any part of the pan that could come in contact with the bread must be covered. If you find that you do not have enough oil to cover it sufficiently, spray in a little more. If even a small portion of the bread is touching a part of the pan that is not covered in oil, than it could accidentally rip some of the bread.

Once the pan is properly covered in cooking oil, flour needs to be added to the pan. Using a similar method as before, cover the entire pan with flour. Make sure that you cover every part of the pan that may come in contact with the bread as before.

After covering the pan with flour, it should look similar to above. Notice it is evenly coated all around the inside. When covering the pan in flour if you find that you do not have enough, do no hesitate to add more. Preparing the pan properly will make removing the bread easier, and also make it more aesthetically pleasing once baking is complete.

Now, take the bowl that you mixed up all the ingredients in it; grab a spoon and carefully pour the banana bread mixture into the pan, making sure not to miss the pan or get any on the edges of the pan. Use the spoon to guide the banana bread mixture into the pan, and once most of it is out, to scrape out every last ounce! You do not want to leave any of this delicious banana bread mixture behind!

Once you have poured the banana bread mixture into the pan, check to be sure that the oven is preheated to the proper temperature. Once the oven is hot enough place the pan into the oven, but be careful! Any part of the inside of the oven will be extremely hot! You do not want to start off a wonderful day of eating banana bread by burning yourself!

After one hour of baking, take banana bread out of the oven. For this step, use two oven mitts to take the banana bread out of the oven.

Caution: The contents will be hot and can cause burns.

Helpful Hint: If you pull the oven rack out a little bit the banana bread will be easier to grab and will reduce the chance of a burn.

This step will help you determine if your banana bread is done.

You should insert about half of the toothpick into the top of the banana bread. If the toothpick comes out will dough on it then you will need to place the banana bread for 5 more minutes. Repeat this step until the toothpick comes out clean.

To remove the banana bread from the pan, place your left hand on top of the loaf and turn the bread pan upside down. The bread will then slide out of the bread pan.

Allow the bread to breathe for ten minutes. This will let the bread to fully set up and will be ready to eat. When cutting the bread, the ideal knife to use would be a bread knife which will allow you to cut the bread without deforming the rest of the loaf.