I've had a hectic couple of weeks until yesterday evening. I had bananas gone overripe. The idea of banana bread (quickbread) wasn't appealing. I make it with pistachios and blueberries and it's awesome, but not really Summery. So I thought banana bread. Why not? I've put beets in bread. That was really good. But, being tired, I didn't actually think it through or anything. Just started with about a pound of 11.5% protein flour, and sort of wandered off from there. The bananas were mashed in the bottom of a measuring jug, to which I added a little water, then thought since bananas are sweet, maybe it should be enriched bread, so I added a couple of eggs and milk. I'd already added the salt to the flour when I saw the end of the bag of tortilla chips from the 4th (ingredients corn masa, salt and oil for frying). Corn chips and bananas are actually good together, so I crushed them in my hand and added them to the wet, ending up with about 3 cups of liquid inc. the bananas and chips.

All that, mixed together with the flour/salt and yeast went into the mixer for kneading. After a reasonable knead, the gluten development seemed good but it was way too sticky, so I added a heaping scoop (likely about 2/3 of a cup based on the size of the scoop) of bread flour, 13.5% protein. That made it kind of stiff, but IME enriched doughs do well with extra oomph, so I set it to rise.

....and looked at the clock and realized that I had an online meeting coming up! The bread was supposed to be cooling by then. Did I mention, I gave it a good hour autolyze? So I excused myself from the meeting awhile later to see that it was well risen but looked ineffably sad, so I punched it down and turned it under a few times and set it to rise again. Enriched doughs do well with double rises. When I came back it was nice and lofty and happier looking, so I slashed it. Then decided it could do with another 15 minutes to rise. Finally, I was able to pop it in the oven, and a guess of a temperature and time, that would take it to after the meeting.

Result: There are a few a few little bits of banana and or chip which blend entirely into the crumb, so you have to look closely to see them. Occasionally, there's a hit of banana flavor. I had worried about too much salt, but it's not salty. I'd been worried about too much sweet, but it's not particularly sweet, just that general kind of enriched sweetness. Great oven spring. Nice dome. Mostly even, partly open crumb. Crust tastes like challah crust (it was brushed with milk at the end). It tastes just like any enriched bread, but the crumb is stronger and actually stands up to a sandwich. It's good, but pretty ordinary. Surprisingly uninteresting... (though I hope the tale is more interesting than the loaf!)

So Petalique inspired me to smoke a duck. I got a nice little 3 lb. duck raised by a local grower. This was a perfect day for it. Pleasant outside. Not too damp or dry. I started when the shade started coming in. :) After reading a lot of duck smoking recipes, I realized I was just not interested in the kind of perfections they were talking about and I didn't have room in my fridge for all this days long drying, and ended up doing my own thing with the duck, too. I know how to bake bread. I'd never smoked on a barbecue before, but wing it, I did.

All the recipes say to salt/season the bird after pricking the fat escape holes, so I did that, just rubbing some kosher salt into the skin. I wasn't going to do the masses of paper treatment. I disagree with a lot of the orthodoxies on drying things. This was going onto a grill over a pan of water! My $14.98 delivered, new Kingsford chimney feels like it's as big as the barbecue, but it works better than any other chimney I've used. I had hot charcoal in no time. Put the pan of water on the other side--too small a setup to have both a pan of water and a drip pan. I couldn't find my wood chips! Here I had a salty duck on the counter and was lighting the barbecue and couldn't find the woodchips, so, okay, charcoal smoke it would be.

I distinctly remembered one of the minions bringing the woodchips up the stairs. So I called. Nothing. Called where I thought the minion was working. No luck. Minion was in the hills with no signal. Called landline up there to see if someone could get Minion to call. Got a shaking cel call, which was dropped. Finally, Minion came down the hill, called, and had no idea what I was talking about. Then was telling me where they were last week. Then told me where the charcoal was. Then finally got it, told me where they were, and they were just kind of hiding behind a box so you had to turn in a specific direction to see them. Yes! Apple wood.

I was having some difficulty controlling the temperature. I need to fine tune the vent cover. But the duck is smoked. Awesome. I nibbled a few bits that fell from the cutting. Delicious. Fat well rendered. Some of the skin was crispy, but that wasn't my point, since it was all going to be put in a container and chilled anyway. I put the spine in a bag in the freezer next to the (raw) neck and giblets, both of which will be great for soup. Of course, after all that, I still have to cook dinner...

But there's dessert! I've been testing brownie recipes and had them on my mind, so what's to do with the other two not quite as overripe bananas? When I thought, "Banana brownies," I though it was odd, but I found lots of recipes. The first one was actually banana blondies, and sounds good, but I ended up with this one: https://www.tastingtable.com/791702/chocolate-banana-brownies-recipe/ I mostly followed it, but since most brownie recipes are way too sweet for me, I used 2/3 of the sugar. This time, I didn't add any flour. The cocoa powder is Organic Raw. And I didn't have any dark chocolate chips, so used the end of a bag of sweetened cocoa nibs and most of the end of a bag of semi-sweet minis. The tester came clean at the center of the dish after 20 minutes, and the recipe said to remove to a wire rack after 15 minutes, but that was a big mistake. They were very loose inside. Some of that might have been molten minis, but I think they just needed to steam out more. At closer to cool, they've solidified a lot, though are still fudgy gooey. I think it'll be fine. There is a weird texture, which is either the cocoa nibs being funky or banana seeds. It tastes more like the latter, but is probably the former. Whatever it is, this recipe is a keeper! There are also crunchy edges and a bit of that crunchy top skin. Did I mention, delicious? With the sugar from the chips, and the overall moisture, it did not need that extra half cup of sugar!