The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [126]
TOPPINGS
Before you pop your quick bread in the oven, there are various things you can sprinkle on the top for added glamour. Oat flakes, wheat germ, almond meal, sesame or poppy seeds, finely chopped nuts, date sugar—all work well, either alone or in combination.
WHAT IS QUICK?
One last word. The variety possible in quick breads is really limited only by your own imagination and the time you have to spend chopping and measuring. The recipes here are some we enjoy, but you will not limit yourself to these few. Mostly we have tried to include breads that were not only good but also really quick—if half an hour goes by while you measure and chop and fuss, and another hour baking, and then the bread has to wait overnight to be ready to slice, from our point of view, it would hardly qualify as a Quick.
Mixing
Ingredients should be at room temperature or a little warmer, even the eggs. This is true for muffins, but it is particularly helpful when making loaves, because cold batter heats unevenly: the crust gets too dark before the loaf cooks in the center.
The traditional method for mixing quick breads is to stir the dry ingredients together, and, in a separate bowl, the wet ingredients. The two are combined with a minimum of mixing, then put in the baking pan and into the hot oven quickly. The speed is intended to insure that the bread loses as little gas as possible before the oven heat can set the dough. Even if you are using double-acting baking powder (which gives you more leeway because part of its reaction begins only in the heat of the oven), this is still a very good method, albeit a little tense if anyone gets in your way, or the phone rings at the crucial moment.
An aside to mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles: Mixing quick breads is not so difficult that you can’t involve children in the process. From our experience, making raisin-nut bread or blueberry muffins is quite as much fun as mixing cake or cookies, and more healthful to the family as well. Something that can surprise us “olders” is that oftentimes children are even prouder to contribute an integral part to the family meal than to supply just the dessert.
Baking & Serving
A moderate oven temperature, about 350°F, is good for most loaves, with a slightly higher heat, 375–425°F, for muffins and unsweet cornbreads. The oven should be preheated thoroughly before the bread goes in.
Our recipes call for whole grain flours and a minimum of chemical leavenings and eggs, so they rise less puffily than do standard types. In order to produce nicely shaped muffins and loaves, fill the pans about three-fourths full, sometimes even fuller. For loaves, we have sized our recipes to fill a medium 8″x4″ pan. Our muffin recipes make 12 ordinary small muffins, each dip in the tin holding a little over ¼ cup. For the larger size muffin tins—they hold nearly ½ cup each—double the recipe to make a full dozen.
Baking times are given with each recipe, but they will vary with the temperature of the ingredients and the peculiarities of your own oven. In general, allow about an hour for loaves and about 18 minutes for muffins.
If your loaves burn on the crust before they are done in the center, try using shiny metal loaf pans and/or place one pan inside the other as a practical remedy. If you are short on loaf pans, putting your loaf in its pan on a cookie sheet can help, too.
When done, a quick bread will have an inviting aroma and will shrink away from the edge of the pan a little bit. To check, insert a toothpick or clean sharp knife in the middle of the