Light and fluffy gingerbread: Easy recipe for festive baking
Classic gingerbread has a strong, spicy aroma, but its dough can be quite heavy and dense. This particular trait of traditional pastries might not appeal to everyone. However, you can prepare gingerbread in a version that is light and fluffy.
Even though there is still some time until the festive season, we already long for the aromas of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. It's the scent of these spices that's synonymous with Christmas. Naturally, gingerbread is part of this tradition.
Classic gingerbread is not for everyone
For centuries, gingerbread has been linked with holiday traditions. It is a honey-based pastry with a generous amount of spices, quite substantial and very aromatic. In many families, baking traditional maturing gingerbread specifically for the holidays is a custom. It demands significant effort and attention. It is labour-intensive, and its taste can be too rich for many individuals.
Gingerbread will be soft and delicate
If you are not keen on classic gingerbread, you can bake it in a lighter version. It will retain the characteristic spices, but its texture will differ entirely. This gingerbread is fluffy and delicate, and its preparation is so simple that even beginners can manage it effortlessly. I use buttermilk for this recipe, which makes the dough light yet moist. It also doesn't dry out quickly. You can make it, like most gingerbreads, a few days before the holidays or for a pre-Christmas gathering in December.
Buttermilk Gingerbread
Ingredients:
- 280 grams of cake flour,
- 480 millilitres of buttermilk,
- 150 grams of sugar,
- 80 millilitres of rapeseed oil,
- 1 egg,
- 4 tablespoons of plum or currant jam,
- 2 tablespoons of cocoa,
- Cardamom, cinnamon, cloves to taste, or you can use a ready-made spice mix,
- 2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda,
- A pinch of salt.
Instructions:
- Mix the flour with cocoa, spices, and bicarbonate of soda.
- Prepare the wet ingredients: combine the buttermilk with the egg, and add oil and jam.
- Add sugar and salt to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Next, add the flour mixture with cocoa, spices, and bicarbonate of soda. Mix everything together.
- Pour the batter into a tin lined with baking paper.
- Place it in an oven preheated to 170 degrees Celsius.
- Bake the gingerbread for about 50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
