Four rules that prevent most baking failures
- Weigh flour if you can. A cup of flour scooped straight from the bag can weigh 20% more than one spooned in and levelled. Grams remove the guesswork.
- Know your oven. Many ovens run hot or cold. An inexpensive oven thermometer shows the real temperature.
- Check the date on your raising agents. Old baking powder and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) lose strength and give flat, dense results.
- Stop mixing once the flour disappears. Over-mixing quick breads and cookies makes them tough.
One-bowl banana bread
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas (about 350 g / 12 oz peeled)
- 75 g (⅓ cup) butter, melted
- 140 g (⅔ cup packed) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 190 g (1½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
Method
- Heat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease a loaf tin about 23 × 13 cm (9 × 5 in) and line the base with baking paper.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl until mostly smooth. Stir in the melted butter, then the sugar, egg and vanilla.
- Sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda and salt over the top and stir in well.
- Add the flour and fold it in gently until no dry streaks remain. A lumpy batter is fine.
- Scrape into the tin and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. If the top browns too fast, cover it loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes.
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack.
Tip: The blacker the banana skins, the sweeter the bread. Freeze overripe bananas in their skins and thaw them when you are ready to bake.
Chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients
- 225 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 165 g (¾ cup packed) light brown sugar
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ½ tsp salt
- 310 g (2½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 300 g (1¾ cups) chocolate chips
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Beat the butter and both sugars for 2 to 3 minutes until lighter in colour. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
- Add the bicarbonate of soda, salt and flour and mix on low speed, or by hand, until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Roll rounded tablespoons of dough (about 40 g each) into balls and space them 5 cm (2 in) apart on the trays.
- Bake one tray at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centres still look slightly underdone.
- Leave on the tray for 5 minutes to firm up, then move to a rack.
Tip: Raw dough contains raw egg and raw flour, both of which can carry bacteria, so bake it rather than eating it from the bowl.
Quick soda bread
No yeast and no rising time. Buttermilk reacts with bicarbonate of soda to lift the loaf as it bakes.
Ingredients
- 500 g (4 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 tsp salt
- 350 to 400 ml (1½ to 1⅔ cups) buttermilk
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and dust a baking tray with flour.
- Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
- Pour in 350 ml (1½ cups) buttermilk and mix quickly with a fork or one hand into a soft, slightly sticky dough. Add more buttermilk if dry patches remain.
- Tip onto a floured surface and shape into a round about 18 cm (7 in) across with a few light turns. Do not knead it like yeast bread.
- Set it on the tray and cut a deep cross across the top, about halfway through.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until well browned and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. Cool on a rack.
Tip: Out of buttermilk? Stir 1 tbsp lemon juice into 400 ml (1⅔ cups) milk and leave for 5 minutes.