Homemade Gingerbread Loaf Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why does my gingerbread loaf sink in the middle? ›

Too much: If you accidentally overmeasure your baking soda or powder it can also cause your cake or loaf to sink in the middle. High altitude: If you're baking at a higher altitude you'll need less leavening to achieve the same result as sea level. Without proper altitude adjustments, your products may sink.

How long does gingerbread last? Baked gingerbread will keep for 5 days in an airtight container. If it's humid or moisture is present, the gingerbread will soften. You can freeze gingerbread either raw or cooked.

Divide the dough into two thick disks and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours. (The dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.) To roll out the cookies, work with one disk at a time, keeping the other disk refrigerated.

Sometimes things do just need longer to bake for … whatever reason. As with any other kind of bake, the best first step to take is to weigh your ingredients. Too much or too little flour, for example, can throw off the balance.

You could always try rolling it in flour before adding to the mixture, helps to dry it out and stop it sinking.

If your gingerbread cake comes out dry, there could be a few reasons. Overbaking the cake, overmixing the cake, or the oven being too hot will lead to a dry cake.

“Edible” is a loose term, apparently. A gingerbread house is about as edible as play-dough—you can eat it, but should you? These houses are usually left out for days (more on that later), drying out and crusting over.

A: the actual gingerbread has a shelf life of 18 months and the icing is 12 months. The icing is the part that will become stiffer, will be harder to get through the decorating bag and won't hold as well. There should be a date on the box which is 5 digits long and is the date of the year the house was baked on.

Do gingerbread houses attract bugs? ›

GingerBread House

The sweet smell of gingerbread and the warm shelter it provides can attract insects such as ants and co*ckroaches. Being careful where you store the gingerbread house can help prevent an infestation. Additionally, properly disposing of any leftovers by wrapping them in plastic wrap.

2. Forgetting to chill the dough. It's tempting to want to roll out the dough as soon as it comes together, but let it have a little time to rest. 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.

Mistake #2: Not resting your dough

After the gingerbread is cut out, Lomas recommends putting it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to three days. Chilling the dough before it goes into a hot oven gives the butter a chance to firm up and reduces how much it spreads when baking.

For making the gingerbread house dough, you will need the following ingredients: flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, unsalted butter, light brown sugar, molasses, an egg and vanilla extract.

Spice Combinations

Some other common spices used in gingerbread recipes are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice. Cinnamon is available in ground form and in a stick. For baking, you should use ground cinnamon. Nutmeg adds a nutty, sweet spiciness to gingerbread.

Another key difference from modern-day gingerbread is that the medieval variety is made with honey and breadcrumbs. These were mixed with saffron and pepper to form a stiff paste which was formed into a square, sprinkled with cinnamon and decorated with box leaves secured with cloves.

A 1:4 ratio of butter to flour makes the gingerbread strong. Corn syrup keeps freshly baked gingerbread pliable and soft, so it's easy to cut while warm.