Banana Oat Walnut Buns

I created this recipe because I needed to use up my over ripe banana.  Before I would make a banana cake with it but these days I make my own bread for breakfast and just so that on that day I needed to make a new batch.  I didn't use whole wheat flour for this because I thought it would be better with bread flour alone.  However, I also wanted to make it healthier so I added oats and walnuts.

I loved the result, it's soft and fluffy with a tint of banana fragrant.  I could also taste bits of chopped walnuts in each buns.  The buns can be eaten as it or spread with your favorite jam.  As you can see from the above picture, this recipe yields one square pan, one round pan and one loaf pan of buns for me.

I am also submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers # 8 and this month theme is "Bread Seduction" hosted by Sweetylicious.

Ingredients:

• 400ml milk
• 1 cup mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 tsp. granulated sugar
• 4 1/4 cup bread flour  (2 Tbsp. extra if needed)
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup whole walnuts, chopped
• 2 tsp. instant yeast

Method:

1.  In a bread-maker,  add ingredients as listed except yeast or according to your bread-maker instruction.  Lastly, make an indentation on the side and add in yeast.  Turn the bread-maker to Dough function.

2.  While the bread-maker is stirring, keep an eye on the dough.  If it's too wet, add in additional 1 Tbsp. of bread flour or as needed until a dough is formed.

3.  When the process is done, take out the dough and knead a few times.  Divide accordingly and shape into balls and place in a greased pan (round, square, loaf, etc).  For me, I made a 9 buns round pan, a 9 buns square pan and a 6 buns loaf pan.

4.  Prove in an oven with lights on and two bowls of hot water underneath for one hour or until double in size.

5.  Preheat the oven to 375'F.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Let cool completely on wire rack before storing.  You can freeze the buns in a ziplock bag for later consumption.  I freeze mine and only take it out to thaw at room temperature when I am out of buns.