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Hi it seems the recipes for quick breads like banana bread, pumpkin bread etc are all very similar. Is there a good guide for a general quick bread recipe where you just fold in the unique characteristic?

Ie: a recipe where you can just fold in 1 cup of bananas to make banana bread, or 1 cup of pumpkin to make pumpkin bread, etc.

Marcus Leon
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Yes, from the book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman

Quick Bread = 2 parts flour: 2 parts liquid: 1 part egg: 1 part butter...Recipes vary considerably on how much baking powder to use. I've found that a good working rule is one teaspoon per 4 ounces of flour (a scant cup), or 5 grams for every 110 grams of flour.

Jolenealaska
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  • Would pumpkin puree / mashed banana /... count as liquid? And is "parts" meassured by weight or volume? – Stephie Jan 03 '15 at 19:06
  • Yes, within a certain degree of "judgement call". He goes back and forth between weight and volume. – Jolenealaska Jan 03 '15 at 19:10
  • Nice, thanks. Sugar isn't included in that ratio/recipe? – Marcus Leon Jan 03 '15 at 19:24
  • Nope, a difference between 'bread" and "cake". – Jolenealaska Jan 03 '15 at 19:31
  • I would imagine the baking powder quantity varies with the acidity of what is used as "liquid"? –  Jan 03 '15 at 20:11
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    Unfortunately, the available liquid content of bananas and pumpkin puree are different and affect the final qualities of the bread accordingly. Ruhlman's book addresses the banana bread option explicitly by recommending that you brown the butter first (which would eliminate the liquid content present in the whole butter) and that you reduce the the liquid (milk) by a quarter by weight for what would be 2 parts banana. Also, though Ruhlman tends to use some volumetric measures for smaller amounts like salt and baking powder, his fundamental ratios are based on weight. Ruhlman is the authority. – Stephen Eure Jan 04 '15 at 00:04