Wikipedia

Quick bread

Quick breadis anybreadleavened with a chemicalleavening agentrather than a biological one likeyeastorsourdough starter.An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time-consuming skilled labor and the climate control needed for traditional yeast breads.

Quick bread
Banana breadis a type of quick bread
TypeBread

Quick breads include manycakes,browniesandcookies—as well asbanana bread,pumpkin bread,beer bread,biscuits,cornbread,muffins,pancakes,scones,andsoda bread.[1]

History

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The term "quick bread" most likely originated in theUnited Statesat the end of the eighteenth century.[citation needed][disputed–discuss]However, the similarbannockwas well known in Ireland, Scotland and northern England centuries earlier. Before the creation of quick bread, baked goods were leavened either with yeast or by mi xing dough witheggs.[2]"Fast bread" is an alternate name.[3]

The discovery or rediscovery of chemical leavening agents and their widespread military, commercial, and home use in the United States dates back to 1846 with the introduction of commercialbaking sodain New York, byChurch and Dwightof "Arm & Hammer"fame. This development was extended in 1856 by the introduction of commercialbaking powderin Massachusetts, although perhaps the best known form of baking powder is "Calumet",first introduced inHammond, Indianaand West Hammond, Illinois (laterCalumet City, Illinois) in 1889. Both forms of food-grade chemical leaveners are still being produced under their original names, although not within the same corporate structure.

During theAmerican Civil War(1861–1865), the demand for portable and quickly-made food was high, while skilled labor for traditional breadmaking was scarce. This encouraged the adoption of bread which was rapidly made and leavened with baking soda, instead of yeast.[4]The shortage of chemical leaveners in theAmerican Southduring the Civil War contributed to a food crisis there.[citation needed]

As theIndustrial Revolutionaccelerated, the marketing ofmass-produced prepackaged foodswas eased by the use of chemical leaveners, which could produce consistent products regardless of variations in source ingredients, time of year, geographical location, weather conditions, and many other factors that could cause problems with environmentally sensitive, temperamental yeast formulations. These factors were traded off against the loss of traditional yeast flavor, nutrition, and texture.

Leavening process

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Preparing a quick bread generally involves two mi xing containers. One contains all dry ingredients (including chemical leavening agents or agent) and one contains all wet ingredients (possibly including liquid ingredients that are slightly acidic in order to initiate the leavening process). In some variations, the dry ingredients are in a bowl and the wet ingredients are heated sauces in a saucepan off-heat and cooled.

During the chemical leavening process, agents (one or more food-grade chemicals—usually a weakacidand a weakbase) are added into the dough during mi xing. These agents undergo a chemical reaction to producecarbon dioxide,which increases the baked good's volume and produces a porous structure and lighter texture.[5]Yeast breadsoften take hours to rise, and the resulting baked good's texture can vary greatly based on external factors such as temperature and humidity. By contrast, breads made with chemical leavening agents are relatively uniform, reliable, and quick. Usually, the resulting baked good is softer and lighter than a traditional yeast bread.

Chemical leavening agents include a weakbase,such as baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) plus a weakacid,such ascream of tartar,lemon juice, or cultured buttermilk, to create anacid–basereaction that releasescarbon dioxide.(Quick bread leavened specifically with baking soda is often called "soda bread".)Baking powdercontains both an acid and a base in dry powdered form, and simply needs a liquid medium in which to react.[5]Other alternative leavening agents are egg whites mechanically beaten to form stiff peaks, as in the case of manywafflerecipes, or steam, in the case ofcream puffs.Nevertheless, in a commercial process, designated chemical leavening acids and bases are used to make gas production consistent and controlled.[5]Examples of acid—base combinations include:[1]

Leavening acids Leavening bases

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.[6]The type of bread produced varies based predominantly on the method of mi xing, the major flavoring, and the ratio of liquid in the batter. Some batters are thin enough to pour, and others thick enough to mold into lumps.

Mi xing methods

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Pancake batter is made using the stirring method.
Layer cakes and shortbread cookies are made using the creaming method.
Pie crust is made using the shortening method.

There are three basic methods for making quick breads, which may combine the "rise" of the chemical leavener with advantageous "lift" from other ingredients:

  • Thestirring method(also known as thequick-bread method,blending method,ormuffin method) is used for pancakes, muffins, corn bread, dumplings, andfritters.[7]It calls for measurement of dry and wet ingredients separately, then quickly mi xing the two. Often the wet ingredients include beaten eggs, which have trapped air that helps the product to rise. In these recipes, the fats are liquid, such ascooking oil.Usually mi xing is done using a tool with a wide head such as a spoon orspatulato prevent the dough from becoming over-beaten, which would break down the egg's lift.[8]
  • Thecreaming methodis frequently used forcake batters.The butter and sugar are "creamed", or beaten together until smooth and fluffy. Eggs and liquid flavoring are mixed in, and finally dry and liquid ingredients are added in. The creaming method combines rise gained from air bubbles in the creamed butter with the rise from the chemical leaveners. Gentle folding in of the final ingredients avoids destroying these air pockets.[9]
  • Theshortening method,also known as thebiscuit method,is used for biscuits and sometimes scones. This method cuts solid fat (whether lard, butter, orvegetable shortening) into flour and other dry ingredients using afood processor,pastry blender,or two hand-held forks.[10]The layering from this process gives rise and adds flakiness as the folds of fat melt during baking. This technique is said to produce "shortened" cakes and breads, regardless of whether or not the chosen fat is vegetable shortening.

Dough consistency

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Quick breads also vary widely in the consistency of their dough or batter.[11]There are four main types of quick bread batter:

  • Pour batters,such as pancake batter, have a liquid-to-dry-ratio of about 1:1 and so pours in a steady stream. Also called a "low-ratio" baked good.
  • Drop batters,such as cornbread and muffin batters, have a liquid-to-dry ratio of about 1:2.
  • Soft doughs,such as many chocolate chip cookie doughs, have a liquid-to-dry ratio of about 1:3. Soft doughs stick significantly to work surfaces.
  • Stiff doughs,such as pie crust and sugar cookie doughs, have a liquid-to-dry ratio of about 1:8. Stiff doughs are easy to work in that they only minimally stick to work surfaces, including tools and hands. Also called "high-ratio" baked good.

The above are volumetric ratios and are not based onbaker's percentagesor weights.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ab"Chemical leavening"(PDF).RetrievedMarch 16,2012.
  2. ^"Quick Breads".RetrievedMarch 12,2012.
  3. ^Morrison, Toni (1987).Beloved.New York New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 61.ISBN0452264464.
  4. ^"Quick Breads"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on December 21, 2010.
  5. ^abcLai, H. M., & Lim, T. C. (2005). "Bakery products". In Y. Hui (Ed.),Handbook of food science, technology, and engineering(pp. 9–11). Boca Raton: CRC Press
  6. ^Gillespie, Gregg R. (1998).1001 Muffins, Biscuits, Doughnuts, Pancakes, Waffles, Popovers, Fritters, Scones, and other Quick Breads.New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. p. 9.ISBN1-57912-042-3.
  7. ^Quick Bread PreparationArchivedMarch 30, 2010, at theWayback Machine
  8. ^Brown, A. (2011). Understanding food: Principles and preparation. (p. 408). Belmont, California: Wadsworth.
  9. ^"Baking 101 - Quick Bread - Mi xing Bread Dough - QuakerOats".Archived fromthe originalon 6 October 2014.Retrieved4 October2014.
  10. ^"Methods of Mi xing Quick Breads".Retrieved4 October2014.
  11. ^"Quick Bread".Mahalo.Retrieved4 October2014.
  12. ^"How Baking Works | CraftyBaking | Formerly Baking911".Retrieved2014-11-28.

Further reading

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