Gingerbread

 Because it is Christmas time, and it occurred to me that I might have the necessary ingredients on hand, I decided to put on some Christmas music and bake some Gingerbread. 

I started with this recipe from All Recipies: Favorite Old Fashioned Gingerbread. Most people probably say you should follow the recipe at least once before you start making changes, those wise people. But they miss out on the excitement of plunging head first into the unknown. Although I had never made this, or any other gingerbread before, I made a lot of changes:

I used Whole Wheat Flour + a tiny bit of white Cake Flour instead of All Purpose Flour. I wondered if there was something i should do to compensate for the heavier flour. ore liquid? Less Liquid? Cornstarch?

I tripped the Ginger, doubled the Cinnamon and Cloves and added 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon of Nutmeg. 

Instead of 1 Cup Molasses I used 1/2 Cup Molasses (Black Strap) and 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar.

I added a diced Apple. I would have also liked to add, had I had any, Candied Ginger and Lemon Zest.

I used 4 mini loaf pans instead of the called for nine inch square pan and so I set my oven time for 45 min instead of an hour. But I ended up baking for over a full hour. Maybe because of the Whole Wheat? Or maybe the mini loaf pans made thicker loaves so they needed more cooking time instead of less as I had anticipated?

By the time the bread had been on the oven for twenty minutes, I was thinking, even if it doesn't taste good, I should make this bread every Christmas just to make my house smell like this again. Delicious!

Forty-Five minutes in I was torn between the fear of under baking the bread and the fear that is was secretly burning ( It is hard to tell when baking dark brown loaves). I opted to keep baking and worrying  for a while longer. Every time I inserted a knife into the center it did not come out clean. I finally resorted to removing one loaf from it's pan so I could thump on it, the way my mom used to check her bread,  to see if it sounded done.

It turned out great, not too sweet and with the emphasis on the ginger without the ginger flavor being overpowering. A perfect partner for vanilla ice cream.  It was really fun and easy (other than the worrying about when to bring it out of the oven).  I will add more apples as they all but disappeared  into the batter and I will probably add more ginger. I like things spicy!

- Ash