Pan de Plátano Yucateco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •9 by 5 inch loaf pan, preferably an old tin one with a few years on it
• •Box grater for the piloncillo
• •Wooden spoon or hand mixer
• •Fine-mesh sieve for sifting the canela
• •Wire rack or woven palm petate for cooling

Instructions

1. 1

   Wait for the plátanos

   This recipe begins three days before you turn on the oven. Buy plátano roatán when they are bright yellow and leave them on the counter in a woven basket until the peels turn deep black and the kitchen smells faintly of the tropic. The flesh inside should be the color of café con leche and soft enough to mash with the side of a spoon. Underripe plátanos give a chalky loaf. The black peel is the recipe.

   Plátano roatán, the short stubby ones sold across the Yucatán, carry more sugar than the long Cavendish bananas sold in supermarkets up north. If you can only find Cavendish, use five instead of four and wait an extra day for the peels to blacken.
2. 2

   Heat the oven and prepare the pan

   Heat the oven to 175 grados centígrados, 350 Fahrenheit. Rub a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with the tablespoon of manteca, getting into the corners and up the sides. Dust with flour, tap out the excess. The lard rub is how the panaderías in Mérida release their loaves clean from old tin pans that have served three generations.

3. 3

   Whisk the dry ingredients

   In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and freshly ground canela. Use Ceylon cinnamon, the soft bark that crumbles between your fingers, not the hard cassia stick from the supermarket. Mexican canela is sweeter and more delicate. Once whisked, set the bowl aside.

4. 4

   Mash the plátanos

   Peel the blackened plátanos into a wide bowl. Mash with a fork until you have a loose, lumpy puree. Do not put them in a blender. You want some texture left, small pieces of fruit that show up in the finished crumb. Measure out one and a half cups, scant. Reserve any extra for your café.

5. 5

   Cream the manteca and sugars

   In a large bowl, beat the soft manteca with the granulated cane sugar and the grated piloncillo using a wooden spoon or a hand mixer on medium speed. Beat for three to four minutes, until the mixture lightens in color and looks fluffy. La manteca es el sabor. Butter will give you a different loaf, lighter, more European. This is a Yucatecan pan dulce and it takes lard.

   Grate the piloncillo on the fine side of a box grater. The cone is hard but it comes apart with patience. Piloncillo carries molasses notes that white sugar cannot, and it deepens the loaf toward the dark caramel color a Yucatecan abuela would expect.
6. 6

   Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and plátano

   Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl between additions. Add the milk and the vanilla. The mixture may look broken and curdled. That is fine. Fold in the mashed plátano with a wooden spoon. The batter will smooth out as the fruit comes together with the fat.

7. 7

   Fold in the flour

   Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three additions, folding gently with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Stop folding the moment you no longer see streaks of flour. If you overmix, the gluten develops and the loaf turns rubbery. A quick bread is called quick for a reason. Fold in the toasted pecans if using.

8. 8

   Bake the loaf

   Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon. Bake on the center rack for 60 to 70 minutes. The loaf is done when a thin knife inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter. The top will be deep mahogany, cracked down the middle the way every honest banana bread cracks. If the top browns too fast before the center sets, lay a piece of foil loosely over the pan for the last fifteen minutes.

9. 9

   Cool on a petate

   Let the loaf rest in the pan for fifteen minutes. Then turn it out onto a woven palm petate or a wire rack. Let it cool at least thirty minutes more before slicing. Cutting it hot will gum the crumb and ruin the texture you waited three days for. Serve thick slices with café de olla or a tall glass of cold milk for merienda. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Plátano roatán is the right banana for this loaf. The Mexican mercados from Mérida to Campeche sell them small, plump, and intensely sweet. If your market only carries Cavendish, use five instead of four and let them blacken a full extra day. The difference between a flat banana bread and a fragrant one is the ripeness of the fruit, not the recipe.
• •Manteca de cerdo is not interchangeable with butter here. The lard carries a savory floor that holds the sweetness of the plátano and the piloncillo in balance. If you cannot eat pork, use a good unsalted European-style butter, but understand you are making a different loaf. No me vengas con atajos and call it the same thing.
• •Piloncillo is non-negotiable for the depth of color and the molasses notes. The hard brown cones are sold at every Mexican grocer and most Latin markets. Grate it fine. If you absolutely cannot find it, packed dark brown sugar is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •The loaf is better on the second day. The fat redistributes, the plátano deepens, the canela settles. Wrap the cooled loaf in a cotton servilleta and leave it on the counter. Do not refrigerate. Cold refrigerator air dries quick breads out and dulls the flavor.

Advance Preparation

• •The loaf keeps wrapped in a cotton servilleta on the counter for three to four days. The flavor deepens by the second day and holds steady through the third.
• •For longer storage, slice the cooled loaf, wrap individual slices in parchment, and freeze for up to two months. Thaw at room temperature before serving. Do not refrigerate whole. Refrigerator air pulls the moisture out of the crumb and the manteca tightens unpleasantly.
• •The batter cannot be made ahead. Once the baking soda hits the wet ingredients, the leavening begins and the loaf needs to go straight into the oven. This is a quick bread. Mix and bake.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 90g)