Lizzy T
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Gingerbread Loaf
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Soft, moist, molasses quick bread is perfectly seasoned with ginger and nutmeg. Gingerbread Loaf gives that classic holiday flavor that you love!
Gingerbread Loaf Recipe
I know what you’re thinking……it’s kind of early to post a Christmas recipe. We love sharing Christmas recipes, but usually we wait a little bit longer before we completely dive into those comforting Christmas treats. But trust me, we have a good reason to share this Gingerbread Loaf with you today.
I’ll tell you why.
It took us a full year to finally perfect this recipe. We put a lot of time and ingredients into making this the perfect gingerbread loaf of bread. Both of us, at times, felt like we needed to just give up on this bread. Like when it’s your fifth loaf of the day, you’ve trashed three already, and as you take the bread out of the oven, the unstable middle sinks right down to make a little dip in your bread. Bye bye, perfect gingerbread loaf. But we both also felt like we couldn’t part with the idea of an actual soft, sliceable “gingerbread”. It was too delicious of an idea to give up on.
After ditching recipe after recipe, we dug through all of our old cookbooks to seek out the perfect (or almost perfect, anyway) quick bread loaf to revise into our own Christmas-y version. I couldn’t ever describe how happy I was when mom looked through the oven door and announced, “This looks pretty good!” We had the best gingerbread recipe we could possibly get. And we did it for all of you. 🙂 You are so welcome.
This gingerbread loaf is probably going to be one of my favorite holiday breads, just because of all its familiar spices and it smelling just like gingerbread cookies that I love so much. Since I have braces, I won’t be able to eat real gingerbread cookies because they’re just a little too crispy. But I’m okay with that because this is just as good! There is nothing better on a cold winter morning than a warm buttered piece of gingerbread loaf and a hot drink. Like a warm, smooth, spiced cranberry cider…
Soft Gingerbread Quick Bread
We’ve posted many quick bread recipes before, but I’m going to remind you again like my mom always reminds me, you should not overmix the batter. I like to use a rubber spatula to scrape and fold the batter together over and over. Then, as soon as it’s blended all the way, you stop mixing immediately. Trust me, the more you make quick bread, the easier it is to remember and the more natural it becomes. I love mixing ingredients together so I was kind of frustrated I couldn’t overmix, but now I don’t really care. If you’re afraid of getting flour chunks in your bread, you can always sift the flour before adding it in. It really works and gets your flour incorporated well.
Enjoy this recipe a lot, and be thankful that you weren’t the one trying to perfect this recipe over the past year!
Gingerbread Loaf
Soft, moist, molasses quick bread is perfectly seasoned with ginger and nutmeg. Gingerbread Loaf gives that classic holiday flavor that you love!
Servings 10 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 240 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1/2 cup butter (softened)
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk*
- powdered sugar for dusting the top if desired
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until well combined. Add the molasses and vanilla. Mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, until well mixed.
- Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternately with the buttermilk, stirring just until blended after each addition.
- Spoon the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the pan and cool.
Video
Notes
*In place of buttermilk, you place one tablespoon of vinegar in the bottom of a 1 cup measuring cup. Fill the rest of the cup with milk. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes before using.
Nutrition
Calories: 264kcal
I wrapped the loaf tightly and waited patiently for 3 days before tasting. How delicious! I did make a few additions: ground pepper and cardamom. Do you have a “shelf life”/time limit for keeping, as I’m thinking they will make great Christmas gifts .
Wow!! Super delicious! I read the comments about it being bland, so I just measured with my cup and then with my heart. It turned out great! Cooked for 40min and then I put foil over it to get the middle cooked for about 8 minutes on 350. I added cinnamon on top before I put it in to bake and it was a perfect added touch! Super simple recipe! Great for beginners.
I made mini loaves with this recipe and they turned out fantastic. The only thing I have to say is that I made the recipe exactly the first time but the second time I creamed the butter and sugar before adding the molasses and the other liquid ingredients. It turned out much better the second time around. Thanks so much for this recipe!!!
Has anyone tried making these in canning jars? I want to try that for using as gifts and am wondering if anyone else had success.
I doubled the spices and this was so good! I wanted to taste the ginger and I saw the reviews that it was bland. The texture is spot on. For those complaining it was “doughy” you under baked it. I made mini loaves and used a cake tester to make sure they were done.
These turned out great! I used 1 cup wheat flour and 1 cup white flour. I also added 1/2 tsp ground cloves, and next time I think I’ll add cinnamon, too. I baked them in 3 mini loaf pans (5.75 x 3 x 2) for a little over 30 minutes and they are perfect! Thanks for the great recipe.
Going to fix this for Thanksgiving and serve it with Apple ice cream from a local creamery!
I’m guessing it will freeze just fine, but wondering if it would bake up OK in an 8×8 pan.?
Thx
I made this loaf last night and it was just delicious! Very light and fluffy, and had just enough spice. Thank you for the great recipe – I will definitely be making this perfect loaf again! =)
I added chopped pecans to the bread….yummy
I should have read the comments! I thought this tasted bland as well. I had to bake an additional 10 minutes past max time (with a foil tent). The texture is very nice, but very lacking in flavor.
Hi! I found your blog on the BlogHer facebook group. Looks great. I like how you gave extra tips on mixing the batter. I’ve been incorporation more cooking tips into my food blog as well. Shared and connected with you on social media.
Thank you for the nice recipe.
Really excellent recipe; thanks for sharing! I made as directed, except I was looking for a quick bread version reminiscent of my grandma’s molasses cookies, so I subbed the spices from her recipe: (heaping) 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, and 1/2 tsp cloves. Otherwise made as directed, and it captured all the essence of her beloved molasses cookies but in a soft and tender quick bread. Amazing.
I tried it, and it came out very good. I reduced the spices, and the bread is still very spicy, not bland at all.
I have a question: is the batter supposed to be thin, or thick?
(I beat everything by hand, as I do not have a mixer of any kind.)
Thanks for the recipe.
This turned out really good for me. Delicious. I did put in an extra teaspoon of ginger. I baked it for 55 minutes.