Gingerbread Recipe | My Baking Addiction (2024)

FAQs

What makes gingerbread hard or soft? ›

Some gingerbread recipes require some time to soften after baking because they are initially firm. Gingerbread is made harder by molasses and honey, but it becomes softer when water is absorbed by the sugar.

Bicarbonate of soda, or baking soda, is an alkali which is used to raise soda breads and full-flavoured cakes such as gingerbread, fruit cake, chocolate cake and carrot cake. It needs an acid (as well as moisture) to activate it so is often combined with cream of tartar, yogurt, buttermilk or milk.

“There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

Chilling it for at least two hours or overnight gives the ingredients a chance to absorb one another, making it a whole lot easier to roll out the dough without it cracking. Follow this tip: Let the dough chill in the refrigerator, well-wrapped, for at least two hours or overnight before rolling it out.

Spices: This gingerbread is spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and a pinch of salt. Water: Make sure to use very hot water — it'll loosen the gluten and create a light, fluffy texture.

Take your time building the house to ensure it's structurally strong: Let the baked pieces harden for a day and allow the icing that holds them together to set for at least 3 or 4 hours (8 hours is better) before decorating. Once complete, display your gingerbread house in a cool, dry place.

While both will leaven your gingerbread, they act a bit differently in practice. The usual substitution is three times the amount of baking powder as baking soda. This is because baking powder also contains tartaric acid or another acid to boost the action.

Doubling up on molasses softened the cookies significantly.

Molasses is also extremely dark in color, so this batch of cookies turned out to be a deep brown.

How to tell when gingerbread is done? ›

Gingerbread Cookies are done when they are set and begin to brown slightly at the edges. They will harden further as they cool, so avoid overbaking so you don't end up with hard, crunchy gingerbread!

Dough should be soft (not dry or crumbly) but not sticky. If sticky, add a few tablespoons of flour until desired consistency is achieved.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature until just warm enough to roll out without cracking, about 10 minutes. (If the dough has been chilled for longer than 3 hours, it may need a few more minutes.)

It's easier to work with the syrup mix while it's still a little warm, between 37°c and 50°c is fine. This mix will seem pasty at this stage; you need to wrap the dough in plastic and leave it overnight to mature. Because it's been in the fridge, the dough will be quite hard.

The longer it sits out, the more dry and flavorless it becomes”. She points out that as candy and icing stay out, they can become tooth-crackingly hard. Most recipes are edible for at least a week, some longer.

A 1:4 ratio of butter to flour makes the gingerbread strong.

Keep in mind that the longer the cookies bake, the harder and crunchier they'll be. For soft gingerbread cookies, follow my suggested bake times. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet.

Let it dry

“Most gingerbread disasters, collapses, and frustrations happen because the icing hasn't had an adequate amount of time to dry.