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

FAQs

What are the 7 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. The flavoring might be a fruit or vegetable, a liquid such as buttermilk or fruit juice, an extract, herbs, or spices.

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.

Baking Soda

It's used to chemically leaven doughs and batters when it is mixed with an acid. Combining baking soda with an acid produces a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide gas which causes the food to expand and become fluffy.

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.

TIPS FOR MAKING QUICK BREAD

Baking is a science, and certain ingredients like flour and leavening agents need to be measured and added exactly how the recipe suggests. Avoid overmixing the batter as it can lead to tough, dense quick bread that may sink in the middle.

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.

Give the Dough Time

Allowing time for your bread to rise correctly ensures that more starch is broken down into gluten. This process also releases more flavor from the flour. Bread that is adequately developed enhances not only the flavor of a loaf but also improves the structure.

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.

What is the secret for mixing quick breads? ›

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).

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.

Overmixing is exactly what it sounds like: the process by which a dough or batter gets mixed too much, typically yielding dense, tough, or deflated baked goods. Overmixed doughs and batters may have an unappealing look or feel, which remain just as unappealing when they're baked.

Overmixing muffin batter leads to a dense and tough texture because the gluten strands become tightly woven together. Additionally, overmixing can cause the muffins to have large air pockets and a peaked, uneven top.

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.

7.1. 2 The basic ingredients in a yeast dough are: flour, liquid, salt, sugar, fat, eggs and yeast.

Such agents include air, steam, yeast, baking powder, and baking soda.

These breads are called “quick” because they do not contain yeast, so they can be mixed and baked without waiting on the rising process. Instead, eggs, baking powder or baking soda (or a combination) are used as the leavener for classics like muffins, biscuits, scones, and banana, pumpkin and zucchini breads.