Another Banana Bread Eggz Question - Heather or Kree!
#86053 - 07/03/04 06:30 PM
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belinda
Reged: 10/09/03
Posts: 474
Loc: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Heather or Kree:
What size eggs should I be using for Heather's banana bread recipe? It doesn't say on the recipe. Actually, none of Heather's recipes specify the size of the eggs.
Up until recently I had been using the whites of six large organic eggs. But because I am allergic to eggs I began cutting down on the eggs to see if I could get away with using less eggs. In the last batch, I used just four egg whites and tomorrow, when I bake another batch, I am going to cut the number down to three.
So far I haven't noticed any difference at all in the bread. It comes out just fine. This is a good thing from both my allergy viewpoint and from my pocketbook viewpoint because organic eggs are expensive and I am saving money if I only need to use just three egg whites for each batch (instead of six).
This brings me back to my original question of what size eggs the banana bread recipe requires. Perhaps I should have been using small eggs instead of large ones. Maybe that's why the bread is still turning out with the whites of four large eggs.
Egging to know the answer...
Belinda
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I think you should use Large, Grade A eggs. This is pretty much standard. 
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"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." -- e e cummings
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Eggz!
#86443 - 07/05/04 11:50 AM
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belinda
Reged: 10/09/03
Posts: 474
Loc: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Thanks, Shanna. I'm still very much a novice baker so I wasn't sure what size the eggs were supposed to be.
I wonder what eggs are supposed to do for a baking recipe anyway. I used just three egg whites when I baked a batch of Heather's bread yesterday and it came out just as good as it did when I used to just six egg whites, which is what the recipe calls for. On the other hand, any baked good is a treat for me so probably I wouldn't even notice a difference -- I'm enjoying the bread too much to care!
Belinda
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Re: Eggz!
#86524 - 07/05/04 04:12 PM
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Kree
Reged: 10/08/03
Posts: 3748
Loc: Northern NY
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Hi Belinda! Eggs are leaveners (similar to baking powder, etc.) so they help baked goods rise and give them a lighter texture. But I say if using less eggs works fine for you, go with it! 
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"Anyone can exercise, but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline." -Garfield
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I found your post especially interesting because there's a possibility that I might be allergic to eggs as well. (I recently made muffins with egg whites in them and they made me pretty sick, but I haven't been tested for the allergy yet.) I went looking for an egg-free banana bread recipe, and I found a couple that sound promising.... I know it's not what your question was, but I thought I'd share.
#1 -
1.75 cups flour
1.5 cups turbinado sugar
1 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 smallish bananas)
0.5 cup vegetable oil
3.5 tsps ener-g powdered egg replacer
0.5 cup soymilk
0.5 tsp vinegar
mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and egg replacer in a large mixing bowl. mix the oil, mashed bananas, soymilk and vinegar in a separate bowl and stir into the dry mixture. pour into a greased 9"x5" loaf pan and bake at 325 fahrenheit for about 65 minutes.
This was from a vegan message board, so the fat level might be kind of high, but I think you can replace half the oil called for with applesauce.
#2 - This one I found on fatfree.com, and it's VERY basic... the person who submitted it insists that it's the best banana bread ever, I just think it's going to be very dense.
6 ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Mash the bananas and whisk together with the sugar and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, and then combine the two. Pour into loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray, and bake at 350 for 1 hour.
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Oh! and...
#86548 - 07/05/04 05:23 PM
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atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
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I just read on that same board that you can use additional bananas as replacers for eggs. The proportion is one banana per 2 eggs or 4 egg whites.
I think I may try that with Heather's recipe first...
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Thank you!
#86592 - 07/05/04 09:09 PM
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belinda
Reged: 10/09/03
Posts: 474
Loc: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Casey:
Thank you for your recipe suggestions! I would prefer to use the ones calling for natural ingredients rather than the one using the egg replacer.
So far my three-egg bread seems to agree with me. I guess it's probably more dense than the six-egg bread, but it doesn't matter because of the way I eat it. I freeze the bread and then, when I'm ready to eat it, I microwave a frozen slice on high for 50 seconds. The effect is kind of like a hot sponge pudding! To me it tastes like heaven and sometimes I pour a little Vanilla Rice Dream on top in place of custard. Mmmmmm! I'm trying to resist having another piece right now!
I omit the sugar when I make the bread and sometimes I substitute apples for the bananas. I have three loaves of the apple bread in my freezer right now. It tastes out of this world!
Thank you again for your suggestions. I had wondered if I could do something like increase the amount of the baking soda and baking powder to make up for the reduction in eggs, but it's interesting to know I could just increase the amount of bananas.
Belinda
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Leaveners
#86595 - 07/05/04 09:12 PM
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belinda
Reged: 10/09/03
Posts: 474
Loc: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Kree:
It's interesting to know eggs are leaveners. I wonder if I could simply increase the amount of baking powder and baking soda to replace the eggs? If so, any idea how much I would need to increase them by?
Belinda
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I'm so glad the 3-egg bread is agreeing with you! 
I did find one more link... this lists other substitutes for eggs as well, should you ever find yourself wanting to try to omit them altogether. By the way, you were right on in your comment below - extra baking powder IS an egg substitute:
http://www.veganmania.com/pages/egg_substitutes.htm
Happy baking!
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The website for egg substitutes is great! Thank you for letting me know about it! Interestingly, I have been adding additional bananas and apples to the bread because I've been too cheap to waste the extra fruit when I've over estimated how much would constitute three cups! So maybe that explains why my three-egg bread has been turning out. I have been adding egg substitutes without even realizing it!
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