Banana bread in the microwave

The microwaves here are quite interesting. Most have a 'toast' setting on them and ours also has an 'oven' setting. You are able to set the temperature you want and has an element at the top of the microwave. The size of the microwave isn't very big, probably one of the smaller sizes that you would see in Sydney.

Decided to try it out last week with some banana bread (as bananas are about the only affordable fruit). The loaf pan that was here luckily just fitted in. They don't have brown sugar here so I substituted it with black sugar (kurosatou) - the taste of the finished product was quite different to me. It took a very long time to cook... =( It seemed that the heat distribution isn't very even. Will try to bake some biscuits after I get some ingredients from the interanational food store - Jupiter. 

Black sugar banana bread

Banana Bread

86g (2/3 cup) pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped - I prefer the taste of pecans in the bread
85g butter, melted (if unsalted add 1/8 tsp salt)
300g (2 cups) plain flour
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon) - Adjust to your taste
168g (2/3 cup firmly packed) brown sugar
390g mashed super ripe banana
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
90g (1/3 cup) natural yoghurt (about 3% fat)
Honey (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (160 degrees fan forced).

Toast nuts on a baking tray for a 3-5 minutes, until lightly golden and fragrant. Cool to room temperature.

Line a loaf pan (20cm x 10cm x 6.5cm) with baking paper.

Sift flour, bicarb soda and cinnamon into a large bowl.

Mix together mashed banana, eggs, vanilla, melted butter and yoghurt together. Stir in nuts.

Make a well in the flour mixture and add banana mixture. Gently fold ingredients until just combined.  Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hours and 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the bread comes out clean (no batter attached). - After about 1 hour I take the bread out and pour some honey over the top then return it to the oven to continue cooking - it gives it a nice shiny and honey tasting top.

Allow the banana bread to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool or eat it!

Just as I was posting our new floor chairs arrived! Comfy!!! =D Tomorrow our floor mat comes! YAY!