It was actually Sunday that I made a gingerbread loaf (p29), but I've been putting off writing about it because I just couldn't think what to write. It's amazing how many things you can find to keep you busy when you're putting off the one thing you should be doing.
I chose this recipe because I needed to complete more of the 'scones, muffins and loaves' recipes, and this was one that looked immediately appealing. I am a fan of all things gingerbread, after all.
You start by sifting flour and salt with a whole tablespoon each of ground ginger and cinnamon. For spices, a tablespoon is quite a lot, so I was expecting plenty of flavour in my finished loaf. To this mixture I added a cup of quick-cook porridge oats. The recipe says Creamoata, but as previously established, you can't get that anymore.
In a separate bowl, I beat eggs an sugar, then stirred through of melted butter and golden syrup before I folding in the dry ingredients. The final addition was quite interesting: baking soda dissolved in yoghurt. I almost missed this step, which would have been disastrous, since there's no other raising agent in the loaf. When you add baking soda to yoghurt, it fluffs up to a light, airy texture, a bit like beaten eggs. I found that fascinating.
I stirred through the fluffy yoghurt, along with some sultanas (yes, sultanas in a gingerbread loaf. I thought that was weird too). and spooned the mixture in to loaf tin, carefully greased but not lined as I'd just remembered I'd run out of baking paper.
The given baking time is 55 minutes. As per my usual habit, I set my timer for a bit less than that. When it went off after 50 minutes, I took out a loaf that was already looking very dark on top, and showed every sign of being cooked through. I left it in the tin for another ten minutes before taking it out to cool.
To be honest, this gingerbread loaf was a bit of a disappointment. Despite the reduced cooking time, the loaf was overcooked - crunchy around the edges and starting to dry out in the middle. The oats had not mixed through very well, and there were lighter oaty patches here and there throughout the loaf. There was flavour enough, as I'd anticipated with the heavy spicing, but actually, that doubtful inclusion of sultanas was the best thing about this loaf - a few juicy sultanas sprinkled through your slice of loaf help make up for the overall dryness.
To summarise: this loaf has a good flavour but is easily overcooked. I'd suggest 40-45 minutes' cooking time is more suitable than 55 - not letting it dry out would make all the difference.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular posts this week
-
Earlier this week, I acquired a bagful of black boy peaches from a generous colleague. While my Edmonds book doesn't have any recipes ...
-
There's a recipe in the 'breakfasts' chapter for Creamoata (p155). I hadn't given much thought to this, but I had a vague id...
-
I had about 300g of food processor pastry left over from my quiche the other day, so when I arrived home last night with no idea what I wa...
-
I've never had much luck with banana cakes. They always seem to come out overcooked on top and gooey in the centre. Yet I still make one...
-
I'm not usually obliged to come into work on a Saturday, but post-quake, routine has temporarily gone out the window: stock was moving...
-
I pulled out an old favourite last night: corned beef (p124). Since I've only ever cooked silverside in my crockpot, I was interested to...
-
It's hard to believe a whole three years have passed since I posted my first entry in this challenge, and even harder to believe I'v...
-
I'm sure you've been wondering what I plan to do with all that baking. The thing is, every year I do a lot of baking and take trays ...
-
Ginger crunch (p63) - it's another Kiwi favourite, but as it happens, I'd never made it before. Any ginger crunch I've had in re...
-
I decided to ease myself into this challenge by starting with one familiar recipe and one totally unfamiliar one. For the unfamiliar rec...
Your loaf looks very crumbly. Was your oven temp. accurate?
ReplyDelete