Favourite Quick Breads: Gingerbread KEG Comfort

Even before #lockdownbaking was a thing, I’ve been a fan of any kind of quick bread.  What is a quick bread?

A quick bread usually doesn’t have yeast as a raising agent – and no yeast means no kneading and no waiting.  When it comes to bread, that is my way to go!  I’m terrible at kneading, and thank goodness,  I’ve got a food processor with a dough hook now.

But, that won’t be needed (kneaded?) anyway!  This quick and easy gingerbread can be thrown together with a few basic ingredients, and there’s no special equipment needed – not even a blender. Very much like the Peanut Butter Bread recipe I posted a couple of weeks ago:  1932 Peanut Butter Bread: My Current Obsession

I also make a mean mieliebrood (mealie bread) and beer bread, I will post those recipes in the near future.

But, let me get back to the aim of this post.  So share my Gingerbread attempt!  Strange enough, growing up I really wasn’t a fan of gingerbread or date bread, but which featured quite often on the family tea table.  It can be that my palate and taste did mature quite a bit since then.

I’ve mentioned previously how the quintessential (Afrikaans) South African Cookbook is my classic go-to reference guide (referring to KEG: Classic! Crunchies and Nederburg and A Lazy Weekend Brunch: KEG Scones and Fizz! (Featuring De Krans Moscato).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing that there’s definitely a chill in the air as we are moving closer to winter, I’ve had a craving for something warm and comforting.  When it comes to food, ginger and cinnamon are definitely on top of mind when it comes to “Winter Warmers”. And this little minimum-effort bread brings all of that together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, here goes!

Gingerbread (recipe from Kook en Geniet):

Ingredients:

• 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar (I used brown sugar)
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup (I used Lyle’s Golden Syrup – the only syrup my gran ever used!  I thought the Maple Flavour will add some extra depth and taste to the gingerbread) 

• 125 ml (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) boiling water  (I told you this is an easy recipe!)
• 5 ml (1 teaspoon) baking soda
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) warm water
• 500 ml (2 cups) wheat flour
• 10 ml (2 teaspoons) fine ginger
• 10 ml (2 teaspoons) fine cinnamon
• a pinch of salt

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Lightly grease a small bread loaf tin. The instructions state to line it with wax paper, but I only used a non-stick cooking spray.
• In a measuring jug, mix the sugar and golden syrup.
• In a separate measuring jug, add butter/margarine and pour the boiling water over it.
• Dissolve baking soda in warm water and mix into butter mixture.
• Sieve flour, ginger, cinnamon and salt together and add the butter mixture and sugar mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Pour batter into the greased bread tin and bake for 45 minutes,  or when a tester inserted into the centre of the bread comes out clean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note that the baking soda will turn the bread dark brown quite quickly, but don’t stress too much, that is how it should be. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy warm with a pat of butter!  Yum.