Home › Bread and Bread Making › Cambridge Gingerbread
Cambridge Gingerbread
1/3 cup butter 1 1/2 teaspoons soda 2/3 cup boiling water 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup molasses 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 egg 1 teaspoon ginger 2 3/4 cups flour 1/4 teaspoon clove Melt butter in water, add molasses, egg well beaten, and dry ingredients mixed and sifted. Bake in a buttered shallow pan.
A plain molasses gingerbread of the standard American type, mixed by hand in one bowl. The original gives no oven temperature, pan size or baking time, all of which are worth settling before you start.
- OvenBake at 350F. Molasses batters scorch readily because of their sugar content, so a moderate oven is right; anything hotter darkens the crust before the centre sets.
- Pan and timeA buttered 9-inch square or 8x12-inch pan gives the shallow layer intended here. Expect 25 to 30 minutes, until the top springs back and a skewer comes out clean.
- The hinge: temperature when the egg goes inMelting the butter in boiling water leaves a liquid hot enough to scramble the egg. Let the mixture cool to warm after adding the molasses, then beat the egg in.
- Soda and molassesThe 1 1/2 teaspoons of soda are the only leavening and rely on the acidity of the molasses to work. Use an unsulphured dark molasses rather than blackstrap, which is markedly more bitter; black treacle is the closest British equivalent.
- Flour2 3/4 cups is roughly 12 oz / 340 g of all-purpose flour. Sift it with the soda, salt and spices as directed so the soda disperses evenly, otherwise the crumb takes on brown soapy specks.
- MixingStir only until no dry flour remains. The soda begins reacting with the molasses immediately, so get the batter into the pan and the oven without delay.
- YieldAbout 12 to 16 squares. It keeps better than most cakes and improves on the second day, wrapped once fully cool.