The darker, softer and blacker the better. When you’re making banana bread, only the most overripe bananas will do. Why? The first reason is sweetness. As bananas ripen, starch is converted to sugar ...

Stir the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar into the warm water in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and let stand 10 minutes. In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process both flours, the remaining 3 ...

``I have been reading in your column about the Bread Puddings with Raisins,'' writes D.L.N. of Moline. ``My mother always made them like that when we were children and I always loved them. ``But I ...