This week Kelly of Baking with the Boys selected Fresh Mango Bread for us to bake from Baking: From My Home to Yours. I thought that I had everything on hand, but Fate interceded, and I had to cobble the recipe together.
First, I thought I had enough mangoes: two from the store, and two from a friend’s tree in Florida. I had to throw the store mangoes out because they were so nasty they were an affront to all mangoes. I lived in Hawaii for almost 13 years and I had a mango tree, so I know a good mango from a bad one. The Florida mangoes were perfumed perfection, but together they only gave me a little over a cup of fruit, instead of the required 2 cups. So, I threw in some canned crushed pineapple.
Second, I couldn’t find my ground ginger, so I subbed two tablespoons of diced crystallized ginger.
Third, I realized – in the middle of baking – that I’d used up all my limes, an extraordinarily rare event around here since I have a citrus obsession. Remedy: lemon zest.
Fourth, I decided to use my industrial strength Vietnamese cinnamon, so I cut back on that, too, as recommended by Penzeys.
Fifth, I nixed the raisins and added some chopped walnuts.
Finally, I cut back the oil to 1/2 cup from 3/4 cup. I made up the difference with more crushed pineapple.
The loaf baked to a deep golden brown in an hour and fifteen minutes. Let me tell you, folks, this smells wonderful when it’s baking. The top had little bits of caramelized pineapple peeking out. I had some left over passionfruit buttercream (yes, after a year, it was still good!) from a previous Daring Bakers challenge, so I rather absent-mindedly smeared my first slice of the mango bread with some of it.
DING! DING! DING! Flavor explosion! Taste perfection! I’m writing down everything I did, because I loved this bread and I want to make it again. None of the spices overwhelmed the moist bread, everything worked together, and the passionfruit buttercream was literally the icing on the cake. Definitely on the repeat list! Check out Kelly’s blog for the original recipe, and the TWD website for the blog roll. My adapted recipe after the jump . . .
continue reading "TWD: Mango -Pineapple Bread with a Little Passionfruit on the Side"
