Cardamom Quick Bread (Tasty Easy Recipe) - Heavenly Home Cooking (2024)

FAQs

Which ingredient gives richness and flavor to quick breads? ›

Fats are added for richness and flavor, and when creamed with sugar, they trap air creating lightness in the batter. Sugar, in addition to its interaction with fats, adds flavor, color, and aids in the tenderization of the batter.

The possibilities are endless, but the common factor is the basic ingredients of fat, sugar, eggs, flour, liquid, leavening agent, and a flavoring ingredient. The flavoring might be a fruit or vegetable, a liquid such as buttermilk or fruit juice, an extract, herbs, or spices.

As with baking soda, the purpose of baking powder is to create air bubbles that give your baked goods their light, airy texture.

The two main quick-acting leavening agents are baking powder and baking soda Salt: Used as a seasoning Liquid: Helps in the blending of dry ingredients and the formation of gluten. It triggers the leavening action of baking powder or baking soda. Sugar: Makes quick breads tender and adds flavor.

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

The most common liquid ingredients in quick breads are milk and water. The liquid moistens the batter, helps activate the gluten in the flour, and dissolves the sugar in the recipe. Quick breads use the chemical leavening agents of baking powder and/or baking soda.

For baking, eggs are particularly important as binding agents and leavening agents. The fat in egg yolks also soften gluten strands, creating a soft crumb in breads. Binding agents hold all the ingredients together.

Bread with no egg looked as normal as any other white loaf. It had puffed up evenly and had a nice crust colour and a soft texture. The interior was soft but quite tight. This could be made lighter by skipping the pre-shaping or folding steps making the dough looser.

Salt acts as a natural antioxidant in the dough and not only adds taste but especially helps bring out the flavors and aromas present in the flour and other ingredients. Next to its role in boosting the flavor of your bread, salt plays a role in tightening the gluten structure and adding strength to your dough.

How can you tell when a quick bread is done baking? ›

Inserting a toothpick into the center of a baked good is a tried and true method to test for doneness. If the toothpick comes out clean, your bread is likely fully baked. It needs a bit more time if it comes out wet with dough or crumbs.

Dough consistency

There are four main types of quick bread batter: Pour batters, such as pancake batter, have a liquid-to-dry-ratio of about 1:1 and so pours in a steady stream. Also called a "low-ratio" baked good. Drop batters, such as cornbread and muffin batters, have a liquid-to-dry ratio of about 1:2.

Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients all at once. Using a wooden spoon, mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened, 15 to 20 light strokes. There should be some small lumps. Overmixing can cause quick breads to be tough, bake unevenly or cause elongated holes (or tunnels).

Even in 'good' cookbooks there are many recipes that contain excessive amounts of leaving agents. Unfortunately, this leads to heavy cakes, quick breads, and muffins. Often the problem is with the quantity of baking soda. Each teaspoon of baking powder contains only 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.

However, if you're in a pinch, the substitution is one teaspoon baking soda equals three teaspoons baking powder. Baking soda is also much stronger than baking powder and, by trying to provide enough leavening, you may wind up with an unpleasant metallic, salty taste in the final baked product.

Fat. If you're looking to ramp up the taste of your favorite bread recipe, we recommend adding a bit of fat. A fat like butter, olive oil or coconut oil in small quantities will help your bread achieve a higher rise and it will also boost its flavor by tenfold.

Sweeteners such as malt and honey are used to add flavor to bread dough. Malt, which is available in powder and liquid form, can be added to almost any bread.

As opposed to lean doughs (like sandwich bread), rich doughs contain much higher amounts of sugar, eggs, and dairy. The result is soft, decadent bread that is excellent alongside your morning coffee, essential for making the most desirable French toast, and perfectly paired with savory meats and cheeses.

SWEETENERS. Sugar (glucose) provides “food” for yeast, which converts it to carbon dioxide and alcohol; sugar enhances bread flavor; gives the crust a golden color; improves the crumb texture; and helps retain moisture in bread.