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How to get more rise in quick breads?


lizztwozee

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Greetings, bakers! Trying to figure out how to get the maximum rise and "crack" out of a quick bread recipe: totally baffled. According to the mood of the oven and ingredients, I either get a lovely risen bread with a dome and a crack, a somewhat smaller version of same, or a completely flat top, with no dome or split. Since it's a zucchini bread, I'm thinking the level of moisture might have something to do with it. I macerate the zucchini weighted overnight in the fridge with sugar, and in the AM it's pretty dry. I've tried increasing the dry ingredients just a bit, reducing the sugar, and increasing the two leavening agents--but I don't want to just keep doing that. Would a soft wheat flour do anything? How about a hotter oven temp. (going with 350 as per recipe)? I've tried piping a line of soft butter down the center of the bread, as per suggestion on this forum, but it sometimes sinks in and seals; I might just be using too thick of a line.

 

The original proportions are thus: 240g (2 c) flour, 1t. baking powder, 1t. baking soda, 170g eggs (3), 270 g sugar (1.25c) 140g olive oil,  (2/3c) and various flavorings, poppy seeds, etc. The first time I baked this bread, I got photo #1--the second time, photo #2. Waaaa????

Zucchini_Ginger_PoppyseedBread.jpg

ZucchiniBread.jpg

Edited by lizztwozee (log)

Lizz

---

"you miss 100% of the shots you don't take"

-Wayne Gretzky

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What's your altitude? I've found that reducing the leavening makes a taller loaf. Sounds counter intuitive, doesn't it? I live at 7200 feet and reducing leavening agents--yeast, baking soda/powder--improves the loaf. It was explained to me that there's less atmosphere at altitude, so leavened items rise faster and then collapse. That doesn't explain the variation in your results, though. You might consider the humidity or temperature of the day. Look on the internet for a discussion of changes based on altitude. I find that simply changing the leavening is enough to improve the results, but there are other considerations, like amount of liquid and flour, and changes in baking temperature.

Edited by Nancy in Pátzcuaro
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Formerly "Nancy in CO"

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