Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread
By America's Test KitchenPublished on May 23, 2019
Time
1¼ hours, plus 2 hours cooling
Yield
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
Before You Begin
The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8½ by 4½ inches; if you use a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness 5 minutes earlier than advised in the recipe. You can substitute milk for the buttermilk if you don’t have buttermilk.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan. Whisk flour blend, baking powder, and baking soda together in bowl.
- Combine pumpkin puree, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is reduced to 3/4 cup, 2 to 4 minutes.
- Off heat, stir in granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and cream cheese until combined. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until no visible pieces of cream cheese remain and mixture is homogeneous.
- Whisk together eggs and buttermilk in separate bowl. Add egg mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk to combine. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until thoroughly combined and no lumps remain, about 1 minute. Fold walnuts into batter.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let bread cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan and let cool for at least 1½ hours before serving. (Pumpkin bread is best eaten on day it is baked, but bread can be cooled, immediately wrapped in plastic wrap, and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days. To serve, warm in 300-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.)
Time
1¼ hours, plus 2 hours coolingYield
Makes 1 loafIngredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Pumpkin bread is usually boring. No loaf is remarkably bad, but none is remarkably good. We wanted a pumpkin bread that not only was gluten-free but also had just the right texture—neither too dense nor too cakey—and that had a rich pumpkin flavor tempered by sweetness and enhanced (not obscured) by spices. Our first task was to improve the raw metallic flavor of canned pumpkin puree. Cooking it (along with the spices) on the stovetop gave it a richer, fuller flavor. The only problem was that this process also drove off some of the moisture and increased its sweetness—the flavors were out of balance. Adding buttermilk solved the dryness problem, and incorporating cream cheese into the mix regained some of the tanginess that the sweetness was overpowering. Since we had to melt the cream cheese, we just added it to the pan of hot puree, achieving the dual goals of melting it and cooling the puree. Once the puree was cool, we were able to use the pot as the mixing bowl. After adding the flour blend and leaveners to our puree mixture, we continued stirring for a full minute to ensure they were thoroughly incorporated into the thick pumpkin puree mixture. Stirring for this amount of time also guaranteed the batter was properly aerated, giving our bread a good rise. Unlike our muffin recipes, this wetter batter did not need to be rested to hydrate the flour; the extra moisture plus the longer baking time prevented any grittiness. A handful of toasted and chopped walnuts gave the loaf some textural contrast and nice flavor.
Before You Begin
The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8½ by 4½ inches; if you use a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness 5 minutes earlier than advised in the recipe. You can substitute milk for the buttermilk if you don’t have buttermilk.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan. Whisk flour blend, baking powder, and baking soda together in bowl.
- Combine pumpkin puree, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is reduced to 3/4 cup, 2 to 4 minutes.
- Off heat, stir in granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and cream cheese until combined. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until no visible pieces of cream cheese remain and mixture is homogeneous.
- Whisk together eggs and buttermilk in separate bowl. Add egg mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk to combine. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until thoroughly combined and no lumps remain, about 1 minute. Fold walnuts into batter.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let bread cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan and let cool for at least 1½ hours before serving. (Pumpkin bread is best eaten on day it is baked, but bread can be cooled, immediately wrapped in plastic wrap, and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days. To serve, warm in 300-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.)
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