Quick Breads

Quick Bread Basics

• Quick breads are quick to make.
• Leavened by chemical leaveners
and steam.
• Little gluten development is
required.
• Mixing takes a short time.
QUICK BREAD DOUGH MIXTURES
• Soft doughs:
– has 1/3 as much liquid as flour (1part liquid to 3 parts flour)
• Examples: biscuits, doughnuts, scones

• Batters:
– Pour batters: equal amounts of flour to liquid (1:1)
• Examples: waffles, pancakes and popovers
– Drop Batters: twice as much flour as liquid (1:2)
• Examples: muffins, nut breads, coffee cakes
INGREDIENTS AND FUNCTIONS
• Flour • Chemical Leavening Agents
– Forms structure when gluten – Baking Powder
develops from water and flour • Double acting, reacts with heat and liquid

mixture • Made of soda, acid and fillers

– Gluten traps air so bread can – Baking Soda

• Must use with an acidic ingredient
increase in volume
• Milk
• Salt
– Improves flavor – Contributes flavor and
browning
• Leavening agents
• Fat
– Enable breads to release
– Tenderness
carbon dioxide
• Egg
– Adds color and richness
GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT
• Only slight gluten development is desired in quick breads.
• Tenderness is a desirable quality rather than the chewiness
of yeast breads.
• Tunneling is a result of over mixing muffin batter. It
creates large, elongated holes and toughness inside the
muffins.
GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT

To make quick breads, there are three mixing

methods:
• Biscuit method: used for biscuits, scones.
• Muffin method: used for muffins, pancakes.
• Creaming method: used for muffins, loaf breads,
and coffee cakes.
BISCUIT METHOD
1. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl
2. Cut in the shortening.
3. Combine the liquid ingredients in another bowl
4. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients by making a
well.
5. Knead dough lightly. (8-10 times)
6. Roll out dough and cut into desired shape
7. Bake on greased or parchment lined baking pan
MUFFIN METHOD
1. Sift together the dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Combine the liquid ingredients in another bowl
3. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and mix just until
all the flour is moistened.
4. Grease or spray loaf pans or muffin tins or use paper
liners
5. Take care not to over-stir the mix as you portion it.
6. Bake
CREAMING METHOD
1. Combine the fat, sugar, salt, and spices in the
bowl of a mixer
2. Cream until light
3. Add eggs in two or three stages
4. Stir together the dry ingredients in separate bowl
5. Stir together the liquid ingredients in separate
bowl
6. Add the dry and liquid ingredients alternately
into the creamed mixture.
POPOVERS
POPOVERS
•Puffy bread product that looks like an over-sized muffin, with very thin,
moist walls, somewhat hollow interior and a crispy brown crust.
•The name of this quick-bread is derived from its behavior as it expands to
such a degree that it "pops over" the sides of its container.
•Made from the thinnest of all quick-bread batters with a liquid to flour
ratio of 1:1.
•They are leavened by eggs and steam in a batter of flour, milk and salt.
•Mixed by the Muffin Method, followed by beating to make it smooth and
free of lumps, giving popovers their characteristic chewy texture.

•Popovers can be plain or flavored with herbs, spices, or cheese.

MAKING POPOVERS

1. Batter is poured into the cavities of a preheated special popover pan,

meant to be twice the depth as those used to make muffins, and placed
in a very hot oven (about 450 degrees F), where it quickly puffs up.
2. The oven temperature is quickly lowered to around 375 to 350 degrees
F, where the proteins coagulate, its structure sets and the final
browning takes place.
3. Egg proteins and starch from the flour provide structural strength.
While fat from the eggs yolks(and, sometimes added butter), helps to
make the popovers tender.
4. NEVER open the oven door during baking. The rush of cool air will
cause them to collapse. 
CHARACTERISTICS OF POPOVERS
• Good volume
• Shell golden & crisp
• Moist, Hollow Interior

Alton Brown: Popover Sometime