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

FAQs

What are the 7 basic ingredients in quick bread? ›

The possibilities are endless, but the common factor is the basic ingredients of fat, sugar, eggs, flour, liquid, leavening agent, and a flavoring ingredient.

Quick breads are typically mixed by hand, and it's important not to overmix the batter. Overmixing can cause the gluten in the flour to develop, resulting in a tough and chewy bread. Mix the batter just until the ingredients are combined, and then stop. If there are a few lumps in the batter, that's okay.

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.

As with baking soda, the purpose of baking powder is to create air bubbles that give your baked goods their light, airy texture. There are two types of baking powder: single action and double action. Single action baking powder creates the carbon dioxide bubbles upon contact with moisture, similar to baking soda.

All-purpose flour is milled from a mixture of soft and hard wheat with a moderate amount of protein (8–11%). Quick breads, cakes, cookies and pastries can all be made using all-purpose flour.

Don't Overmix

When stirring up quick bread recipes, it's important not to overmix the batter once you've added flour. Instead, mix until the liquid and dry ingredients are just combined. And, yes, it's OK to have a few small lumps leftover.

TIPS FOR MAKING QUICK BREAD

Avoid overmixing the batter as it can lead to tough, dense quick bread that may sink in the middle. Dry baked goods are not enjoyable, so it's always important to closely monitor baking time to prevent overbaking.

Adding dry milk powder to your bread dough will help your loaf rise higher. In addition, the loaf will stay soft and hold moisture longer which again means it will last longer. It also helps brown the crust. If you want a lighter fluffier bread loaf just add 2 Tbsp of dry milk to the flour per loaf of your bread.

How do bakeries get their bread so soft? ›

There's something magical about the bread you get at your local bakeries - they're always sooo soft and fluffy. Many of these breads, especially packaged ones, are made with a ton of chemical additives such as calcium propionate, amylase, and chlorine dioxide which help keep them soft, light, and fluffy for days.

Hydrocolloids can retain moisture in the bread. This is important because moisture plays a crucial role in the freshness and softness of bread. By holding onto water, hydrocolloids help prevent the bread from drying out too quickly, thus maintaining its moistness for longer.

Quickly, try adding a malt or honey into the mix to level up your bread's flavor. Malt, a sweetener that is available in powder and liquid form, can easily be added to almost any bread recipe.

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.

The secret to the wonderful taste and aroma of freshly baked bread is the Maillard reaction. It's a chemical reaction between proteins, certain carbohydrates and some of the fatty acids that occur when bread is baked in the oven, which gives it a delicious flavour and fine colour.

Almost all quick breads have the same basic ingredients: flour, leavening, eggs, fat (butter, margarine, shortening, or oil), and liquid such as milk. Ingredients beyond these basic constituents are added for variations in flavor and texture.

Mixing; Sift together the bread flour, rye flour, barley flour, and cornmeal; add the oats, flax seeds, and millet and mix well. This ensures even distribution of the flour. Mix the ingredients in a dough mixer or with hands for 15 - 20 mins, ensure you add the yeast and salt. You can add sugar and eggs if you wish.