Greetings:

Today I tried a recipe for a wheat-raisin quick bread. Altho it
turned out close to what I feel the recipe was meant to be, there are
some items Id like to adjust to make this a possibly better bread.

Altho Im a excellent cook I really cant bake to save my life so
modifying a recipe such as this is beyond my expertise. Any help
would greatly be appreciated.

The original recipe is as follows:

1 Lg Potato
2 Tbsp Honey
1 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 C Unbleached Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cream Tartar
3/4 C Rolled Oats
1/2 C Raisins

It was an easy recipe to put together,,,baked at 375 for about 35
minutes.

What Id like to change is the the following:
A] dryness of finished product--would like a moister bread if
possible--possible to add a liquid of some sort??
B] tasted as if their may have been too much baking soda,,,is it
possible to adjust this??
C] the taste was was a bit bland--would maybe adding a pinch of salt
help this?? how much??
D]Id like to make it just a tad more sweet--would the adding of salt
help bring out he sweeetness or maybe more honey??
E] the bread was a bit "heavy" think this may be due to the wheat
flour and oats---is it possible to "lighten" it??

I kno trial and error would be the best to try,,but seriously Im not
sure what adjustments would do what and since my resources are very
limited I would like not to "waste" food porducts.

Your suggestions would be awesome,,,btw if you have any other quick
bread suggestions that would kewl too,,,Im always attempting to
sharpen my limited baking skills.

Thanks for your time )

PEACE!!

"Peete" > wrote in message
...
> Greetings:
>
> Today I tried a recipe for a wheat-raisin quick bread. Altho it
> turned out close to what I feel the recipe was meant to be, there are
> some items Id like to adjust to make this a possibly better bread.
>
> Altho Im a excellent cook I really cant bake to save my life so
> modifying a recipe such as this is beyond my expertise. Any help
> would greatly be appreciated.
>
> The original recipe is as follows:
>
> 1 Lg Potato
> 2 Tbsp Honey
> 1 C Whole Wheat Flour
> 1 C Unbleached Flour
> 2 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
> 1 tsp Cream Tartar
> 3/4 C Rolled Oats
> 1/2 C Raisins
>
> It was an easy recipe to put together,,,baked at 375 for about 35
> minutes.
>
> What Id like to change is the the following:
> A] dryness of finished product--would like a moister bread if
> possible--possible to add a liquid of some sort??
> B] tasted as if their may have been too much baking soda,,,is it
> possible to adjust this??
> C] the taste was was a bit bland--would maybe adding a pinch of salt
> help this?? how much??
> D]Id like to make it just a tad more sweet--would the adding of salt
> help bring out he sweeetness or maybe more honey??
> E] the bread was a bit "heavy" think this may be due to the wheat
> flour and oats---is it possible to "lighten" it??
>

A: There is no fat in this recipe. I think that the reason it is dry is
because there is no fat. I would add some vegetable oil, maybe 1/4 cup.

B: The baking soda + cream of tartar is a bit strange when double acting
baking powder is readily available. The rule of thumb is that you would use
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for each cup of flour. That assumes that there
is enough acid in the recipe for it to react with. The only acid that I see
(besides the COT) is in the honey, and that's not much. Even with the 1
tsp. of cream of tartar there is probably unreacted baking soda. I would
remove the COT and the baking soda and substitute 2 tsp. of baking powder,
preferably double acting baking powder.

C: You can add some salt if you want, maybe 1/2 tsp.

D: You can also add some sugar. I would start with 2 tablespoons. You
might consider using 2 tablespoons of corn syrup. It is sweeter than
granulated sugar, will help with the moisture issues, and improve browning.
Brown sugar might be another choice as it will also help retain moisture
better than granulated sugar.

E I would increase the AP flour to 1 1/2 cups and decrease the WW flour to
1/2 cup.

>>SNIPPED FOR BREVITY<<

Thanks I will attempt your suggestions,,,will let you kno how it
goes)