A holiday baking conundrum for a *&$#^~! success-resistant recipe. Please help.

S

steve2-in-la

Well-known member
To date, I’ve made this recipe for Fresh Ginger Loaf, three times. The first time, it turned out nicely. Beautiful rise, moist, gingery, etc. I used oil instead of butter and a teaspoon of salt, as called for in the original recipe. It was close to goodness but a little too salty.

Second time out, I modified slightly. Cut the salt in half (to ½ teaspoon) and due to an on-the-fly conversion-miscalculation (remember, I’m just pretty, not clever) put in a ½ cup of oil AND a ½ cup of butter. This resulted in a lava-like overflow of batter and a sink hole in the middle of the loaf. Still tasted good, salt balance correct. Arithmetic lesson learned. Got this puppy down, I thought, next time . . . perfection.

Made the recipe a third time, today. Followed everything exactly, ½ cup butter, ½ teaspoon salt. No overflow but once again, had a center sink-hole. WTF!?

For the next attempt I’ll try increasing the flour (possibly use bread flour instead of AP) from 1½ cup to 1¾ cup in case there isn't enough gluten to support the center structure. My ovens are calibrated correctly and reasonably constant so, I don’t believe the problem is temperature consistency.

This is too tasty a recipe to abandon so, any thoughts?

Fresh Gingerbread Loaf

Makes 1 (9”) loaf.

1¾ cups ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR

½ tsp BAKING SODA

½ tsp KOSHER SALT

1 Tbsp GROUND GINGER

1 tsp GROUND CINNAMON

¼ tsp CAYENNE PEPPER

¼ tsp FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER

¼ tsp GROUND ALLSPICE

¼ tsp GROUND CLOVES

½ cup well-shaken LOW-FAT BUTTERMILK

2 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT

2 Tbsp FRESH GINGER ROOT, finely grated

1 stick UNSALTED BUTTER, at room temperature

1 cup packed DARK BROWN SUGAR

½ cup DARK MOLASSES

2 Tbsp GRANULATED SUGAR

2 LARGE EGGS, at room temperature

Heat oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in middle. Line a 9x5” loaf pan with parchment.

Combine flour, salt, soda and spices. Whisk to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together buttermilk, freshly grated ginger and vanilla until combined.

Beat butter and brown sugar together until light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in molasses until combined then add eggs, one at a time, beating after each until incorporated.

Add buttermilk mixture and once batter is smooth add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated and smooth.

Pour into pan. Bake until a tester comes out clean and cake is pulling away from sides of pan, about 55-65 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

 
Increasing the flour from 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups or decreasing the liquid may work. Also,

have you tested your baking soda recently?
Are you using a dark nonstick pan as opposed to a shiny pan?
Overbeating can also cause a cake to sink, but I doubt that you would overbeat it.

 
The only time that has happened to me was when I put 3 tbsp. of leaven...

...into a cake that called for 3 tsp.

I'm at a loss to explain what is happening to your loaf.

Maybe beat the flour a bit longer to develop more gluten? I think your idea of switching to bread flour may help. I'd still beat it a bit longer.

Michael

 
I don't think there's enough rising agent in it. 1/2 tsp for an entire loaf seems low.

I'd add 1 to 1.5 tsp baking powder along with the soda.

But that fails to explain why it worked the first time.

 
To answer many questions, this is the original recipe from CHOWHOUNDS

Changes I made; added 2 Tbsp grated ginger root, added 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp black pepper, cut the salt to 1/2 tsp, My arithmetic failure occurred when I decided 8 Tbsps butter was a cup, ergo 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup oil equaled 8 OUNCES. D'oh!

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup well-shaken low-fat buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses, such as Grandma’s Robust
2 large eggs, at room temperature

Heat oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in middle. Coat a 9-inch-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter, dust with flour, and tap out excess.

Combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, allspice, and cloves in a large bowl. Whisk to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside. In a separate medium bowl, stir together buttermilk and vanilla until combined.

Combine butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in molasses until well combined then add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until well incorporated.

Stop mixer and scrape bowl and paddle (mixture will look separated and curdled). Add one third flour mixture beating on low speed just until flour is incorporated. Add half buttermilk mixture and once batter is smooth add another third flour mixture. Add remaining buttermilk and mix until incorporated. Add remaining flour mixture, and beat until incorporated and smooth.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and cake is pulling away from sides of pan, about 45 minutes. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

 
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