Gingerbread

Okay, so I know everyone is baking something with pumpkin in it, and I am planning to do that later this week, however I have been wanting to try this gingerbread recipe for a while. I found this one at The Fresh Loaf. This is a wonderful site for bakers and I have found many good recipes posted there. To go directly to the gingerbread one, use this link. Thanks to Floydm for posting this.

Gingerbread

Makes 1 large or 3 small loaves

1 3/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt (can be omitted if using salted butter)

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup molasses

1/2 cup warm water

3 tablespoons crystalized ginger, 1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350. Combine the butter, egg, brown sugar, and molasses in a bowl and stir until combined. Mix in the dry ingredients, then add hot water and stir until just combined. Pour batter into greased baking pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, between 30 and 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
• I made 3 small loaves and it took right at 30 minutes in my oven. I did not add any crystalized ginger or raisins because I didn't have any, but I'm sure it would be delicious. Also, I only had a 1/2 cup of molasses, so I combined about two tablespoons of blackstrap molasses with enough dark corn syrup to make up the remaining 1/2 cup I needed for this recipe. I admit I was a little underwhelmed with the flavor of the gingerbread right out of the oven - it was good but not what I had expected. Today however, it has really developed into that delicious spicy gingerbread taste I was looking for. It just gets better if you wait a little while! If you cut each small loaf into 6 slices, it will be 160 calories per slice.