Tropical Mango Banana Bourbon Bread
Remember when I explained how I’m not very good at developing new baking and pastry recipes? Well, somewhere along the way, I decided to change this, and I’m starting with Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind The Craft of Everyday Cooking.
I’m really loving this book so far. Not only does it give basic ratios for items like breads, custards and sauces, but it explains the reasons for the ratios, what happens when you change the ratios, and how to adapt them for your own specific needs.
Using this book, and the basic ratio for a quick bread, I decided to make a tropical bread using ingredients I happened to have around.
Also, remember when I did that review of NatureBox snacks? Well, that dried mango was still sitting untouched in the cupboard. Due to some TMJ (jaw) issues, chewy foods are my nemesis.
And eating this bag of dried mango would probably cause my jaw to lock up and put me on a liquid diet for a few months. And this blog would quickly become a smoothie blog. I love smoothies as much as the next person, but still, I figured there was a better way to utilize this mango.
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If you don’t have mango from Naturebox like I do, I’m sure you could find dried mango at Whole Foods or another health food store. Or you could substitute a different dried fruit, like golden raisins or dried apricots.
For this bread, I started with a basic quick bread recipe, and added some mashed bananas (I used the rest of my bunch of bananas to make caramelized banana splits).
I also re-hydrated the dried mango using some warm water and added that, along with some unsweetened shredded coconut and chopped pecans.
And because I had it around, why not add a little bit of beer-barrel bourbon? The result is a fruity, sweet-but-not-too- sweet mango banana bourbon bread that makes me dream of Hawaii. It’s perfect for breakfast, or as a dessert or snack.
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Tropical Mango Banana Bourbon Bread
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup dried mango
- Nonstick cooking or baking spray
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 stick unsalted butter melted
- ⅔ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
- 1 cup mashed ripe banana about 3 bananas
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup pecans coarsely chopped
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put mango in a small bowl and cover with very warm tap water. Let stand 5 minutes, then squeeze excess water from mango and coarsely chop. Spray an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch bread pan with nonstick spray.
- In medium bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. In large bowl, whisk together eggs, butter, milk, bourbon, mashed banana and vanilla extract.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk until just combined. Fold in pecans, coconut and mango. Pour into prepared pan and bake 55 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Transfer pan to cooling rack; let stand 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan and transfer to cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
I thank you for this recipe, and the recommendation to buy Ratio, which I did. It also helped me with the problem I had with the recipe. I baked according to the ingredients and directions except I substituted rum for the bourbon, and macadamia nuts for the pecans. Other than that, I followed the recipe.
I noticed that the batter was very thin, but went ahead with it. It took 90 minutes before I could take it from the oven. It was not bad, I mean, it is an edible error, but I knew it was not right. So I used Michael Ruhlman’s instructions regarding quick bread where he said the proper ration by weight is 2 parts flour, 2 parts liquid, 1 part egg, and 1 part butter. Unfortunately, he did not go into banana bread to explain just how much liquid the bananas contribute. Still, I could see the eggs and butter seemed to match with the eggs weighing approximately 100 grams, and the butter 113 grams. The milk weighs 160 grams, and I use 130 grams for a cup of flour. The liquid, not counting the bananas was more than the flour. And the flour was out of whack with the eggs and butter. I changed the flour to 1-2/3 cups or 218 grams and remade it. Turned out much better. Again thanks for a good recipe. By the way, I used an immersion blender to mash the bananas that I had forced ripened by puting them in the oven for 30 minutes at 300°F and filled a cup and weighed it and it was 245 grams.
Here are the ingredients with their weights the way I made it the second time.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup dried mango (55 grams)
Nonstick cooking or baking spray
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour (218 grams)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (108 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
2 eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup milk (160 grams)
2 tablespoons rum
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas) (245 grams)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped (34 grams)
3 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut (22 grams)
Thanks for this info, Wade! Glad you were able to get a good loaf of bread 🙂
Thank you for a great recipe and the advice on buying Ratio. I can see a number of variations I can make with it. So far, I’m getting thumbs up on it, even the edible error. 🙂
Have you tried it with more flour?
I’m so glad you like Ratio. I refer to it a lot and find it very helpful.
I haven’t tried this recipe with more flour, as the recipe as written worked perfectly for me the two times I tested it. It could very well be an altitude or oven inconsistency that caused it not to work for you.
ive been baking quickbreads for a while now although baking is not quite my forte. everything ive seen for recipes is almost always 2 cups ap flour per loaf. sometimes more or less but two seems to be average. when i put this recipe together it seemed like the liquid was too much for the amount of flour. i could obviously be wrong but it seems like 2 cups flour would work better, however, judging by the previous comments i must have done something wrong as i always triple recipes for my purposes.
Hi Jordan. Did you end up baking the mixture? How did it turn out?
Hi–This looks great–I’d like to make it–is it 1.3 cups of mango or 1/3 of a cup?
Thanks.
Hi Jackie! Sorry for the delay. It should be 1/3rd cup. Sorry, looks like something funny happened to the formatting on this recipe.
When using your food scale, are you going by weight and volume? Flour is weight, but the liquids could be either depending on your interpretation . I am wanting to make the recipe.
Hi Joann – I did everything by weight on my scale. The recipe is a little confusing. I’m so sorry. It was my first-ever baking recipe I made from scratch. It turned out great, but I guess I could have written it up a little more clearly. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope it turns out great for you!
Thanks, Amy – I appreciate the kind words. I think you’d really like “Ratio,” especially if you tinker around with baking. I ordered a used copy on Amazon for just a few dollars.
I hadn’t heard of that book before, but it sounds brilliant! I enjoy tinkering around the kitchen, but when my cookies turn out more like bready scones, I’d like to know why. (And how to fix it!)
Your bread has me dreaming of Hawaii too! Warm sandy beaches, crystal clear water, and a bottle of sunscreen for good measure. What a delicious bread!
What a beautiful loaf and wonderful combination of flavors.
Thanks Rosie! I made it late Saturday afternoon, and my husband and I ate almost the entire thing by Sunday night! We did manage to give a little bit away to family, but not much 🙂
Oh wow yum – I love the sound of a mango and bourbon banana bread! It looks and sounds so good!