Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Pumpkin Spice Bread (GAPS-legal, grain-free, nut-free option)


Pumpkin spice bread is a favorite Fall food in our house. This is a rich, moist bread recipe that has optional nuts and raisins. Without the nuts and raisins, it has a very soft texture (preferred by my husband).  With the nuts and raisins, it has a more hearty texture (preferred by the kids and myself).  

Pumpkin Spice Bread
Makes 2 loaves or 24 muffins
  • 1 cup butter, preferably from grassfed cows
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/4 cup whole milk yogurt
  • 1 Tb vanilla extract
  • 1 Tb cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • dash ground ginger
  • dash ground cloves
  • 1 tsp celtic sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup coconut flour
  • 2 cups pumpkin puree, preferably homemade
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup crispy pecans (optional)
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins (optional)
  1. Melt the butter in a small pot over low heat.  Turn off heat, add honey, and stir slightly. Allow to cool a bit.
  2. Combine eggs, yogurt, and vanilla in a bowl.  Mix well using an immersion blender or hand mixer.
  3. Add butter/honey mixture to egg mixture.  If you are using an immersion blender, go ahead and add the spices, salt, and baking soda now as well.  Mix thoroughly with the immersion blender. If you are not using an immersion blender, just mix the honey/butter into the egg mixture very well with a hand mixer. 
  4. If you are not using an immersion blender, the coconut flour must be sifted.  Then whisk in the spices, salt, and baking soda.
  5. Thoroughly mix the coconut flour into the wet ingredients using an immersion blender or hand mixer. Because coconut flour does not contain gluten, there is no worry of overmixing it.
  6. Stir in the pumpkin puree. Then fold in the optional nuts and raisins.
  7. Pour the batter into two buttered loaf pans (mine are 8.5 X 4.5 X 2.5).  Alternatively, line two muffin tins with paper cups and then fill with the batter.  
  8. Bake loaves for 1 hour and 20-30 minutes at 325 degrees. You may need to cover the loaves with foil partway through if they are getting too dark.  Bake muffins for about 40-50 minutes. This is a very moist recipe, so leave it in the oven a few minutes longer than you think to make sure it gets baked thoroughly.
  9. Cool. Serve it plain, with a smear of butter, or even topped with some honey buttercream frosting for a special treat! 
This post is part of Fat Tuesday, Monday Mania, Fight Back Friday, Pennywise Platter, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways and Real Food Wednesday!

    16 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Thanks! This looks so good! I am going to try it tonight! Shay :) http://raisingdieter.blogspot.com/

    Tara said...

    Looks delicious! Have you tried it with coconut oil in place of butter? I'm wondering if it would change the taste too much. Also, how sweet is it? I'm thinking I would like to use a bit less honey; would it still have ample sweetness and flavor?

    Sarah Smith said...

    Hi Tara,
    I've not tried coconut oil in this. Let me know if you do and how it turns out!

    It is not very sweet. If you want to reduce the honey, I wouldn't take out more than about 2 Tb, as it is likely to taste bland if you do.

    Andrea @ Frugally Sustainable said...

    You're officially a rock-star;) Oh yum!

    Jill@ RealFoodForager.com said...

    Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. This was very interesting! Hope to see you next week!

    Be sure to visit RealFoodForager.com on Sunday for Sunday Snippets – your post from Fat Tuesday may be featured there!

    http://realfoodforager.com/2011/11/fat-tuesday-novermber-22-2011/

    Nicole said...

    I made this and it just fell apart...any advice?

    Sarah Smith said...

    Hmmm, that's really strange. Mine stays together totally fine. Did you make any substitutions? It sounds like maybe it needed more liquid or something...

    Melinda said...

    I loved this pumpkin bread! Thank you for sharing the recipe.

    Nonvictus said...

    Nutrition Facts for this?

    amruta said...

    Looks delicious. Pumpkin spice bread is a favorite Fall food in my house also. I will try it with nuts & raisins. My family like nuts & raisins. Thanks for sharing.

    Anonymous said...

    I made this bread with nuts (raisin hater here). I looks really good and is currently baking right now. The immersion blender had trouble mixing in all the coconut flour so I would add it a little at a time. Thanks so much for sharing.

    nickibdc said...

    What if I have no coconut flour? What ratio of almond flour, oat flour, etc can I used as a good substitute?

    Sarah Smith said...

    Coconut flour is really in a class of its own, and there is no easy way to substitute another flour for it (it is REALLY dense and dry). You might try looking on Elana's Pantry for an almond flour pumpkin bread recipe.

    murielle said...

    I used 1/2 cup honey and they were plenty sweet. The texture is somewhat akin to custard, reminds me of pumpkin pie.

    Hibber said...

    I made this with 10 T of butter (instead of 16 T), 1/2 cup honey, 1 t cinnamon and 1/2 t of salt. Very good!

    Sarah Smith said...

    Thanks for sharing what worked for you!