Finally clearing out the last of the moving boxes, I found my beloved recipes! And right in the middle of the box was a beloved banana bread when I first started baking as a young adult.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find the modified version, this was an original recipe that doesn’t belong to me. Sadly, I don’t remember who created it, but I do remember learning how to bake with this very recipe. I remember clearly that I was excited to have made my first banana bread!

Really, this is what I love most about baking. It allows us to relive memories of the past and creates new ones in the present for the future. From biscuits to lasagna, I can recall key moments in my life surround this food. Perhaps that is why ate so much as a child and young adult. It created so many happy memories. Now, I still eat for pleasure, I just do it wiser and healthier.

So I made the bread, thinking about how great it would be. That is when I realized my found recipe shows improvement. My skills as a baker have grown to the point I can now easily modify most recipes to suit my tastes and dietary needs.

Sadly, as I looked at the freshly baked memory, this was the banana bread I stopped making. It’s the greasy one. At a lower temperature, it’s flat and oily, nearly inedible. At a higher temperature, it’s crunchy and falls back onto itself. Both left your fingers covered in buttery residue and your teeth hurt from all that sugar.

However, now I know where to begin again. And that’s my point. Don’t be afraid to adapt as you grow as a baker. This found recipe shows improvement from when I started decades ago. Understanding the basics lets you grow and expand your recipe box for more delicious treats.