Low Protein Banana Bread

     I made another attempt at making PKU friendly bread.  To be honest, I was pretty nervous. 
     None of my other low protein baking experiences have turned out very well.  I was going to be making some regular banana bread, knew I had the low protein ingredients and enough bananas.  So, I went for it.
     I followed a recipe in the Low Protein Cookery For PKU cookbook by Virginia Schuett.  She's like the queen of PKU recipes!  So, I figured if I followed her recipe how could I go wrong!

    So, I followed the recipe to a T.  Well almost.  I was also making "regular" banana bread, so I put the "regular" banana bread in the oven first, mixed up the low protein bread, and then put that in the oven.  I had the timer set for the "regular" banana bread.  When the timer went off, I thought I'd better check the low protein bread, just in case.  Good thing I did, it was DONE!

Notice the chunks of bananas?!

     It finished cooking about 12 minutes sooner than the anticipated 50 minutes!  Maybe it was just me and my oven, but I would highly suggest that you check your bread earlier than the 50 minutes.  If it's not done, no big deal just put it back in.  The last thing you want to do is burn your bread and feel pretty bad about ruining some expensive baking mix!

It turned out ALOT darker than "regular" bread.  I'm not
sure if this is because it finished cooking and I didn't notice!

     The other thing that I did differently was the type of baking mix that I used.  I don't have the Wel-Plan baking mix.  Instead I used Cambrooke's Baking Mix.  Mine had actually expired about 2 months ago, but I always kept it in an air tight container in the kitchen.  The mix is $30, so I thought I'd still try it and hope for the best.  The mix looked the same as it did when we first got it.  I actually had to scold Lily for sticking her hand in the mix and eating it!  So I'm thinking it still tasted good!  The baked bread tasted delicious and Lily really seemed to like it.  So the expiration date didn't effect the bread, I think!

Finished Product.  The bottom is a little darker
and Lily didn't like the bottom crust!

Here's the recipe, if you're interested:

Ingredients

1 1/3 (147 gm) Wel-Plan Baking Mix
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup (115 gm) mashed ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  In a mixing bowl, stir together Baking Mix, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Add oil and water to dry ingredients and mix until smooth.  Add mashed banana and vanilla and blend well.  Pour batter into a greased 7 1/2 x 3 3/4 inch bread pan.  Bake for 50-55 minutes
Yield:  16 slices

                                   Phenylalanine (mg)             Protein (gm)           Calories
Per recipe                               49                                   1.6                        1484
Per slice                                   3                                    0.1                            93

**The slice info may vary depending on the actual amount of slices that you have.  Don't forget to take the total per recipe information and divide by your actual amount of slices.**