Healthy Pumpkin Bread (GF Quick Bread Recipe) + Video | Cotter Crunch (2024)

FAQs

Why is my pumpkin bread so dense? ›

Why is My Pumpkin Bread So Dense? Pumpkin bread can become dense if there is not enough hydration or wet ingredients in the recipe. Another cause is overcooking the bread which can cause it to dry out.

If your pumpkin spice bread is gummy or undercooked in the center, it's typically because it either 1) needed more time to bake in the oven or 2) the batter was too wet, which led the bread to collapse in on itself a bit (this happens if you measure ingredients by volume, rather than by weight: it's easy to ...

You want the bread to puff up and crack on top—this is a sign that it has cooked all the way through. It's easy enough to test for doneness by inserting a wooden skewer or cake tester (sometimes I use a paring knife) into the center of the loaf.

Preventing your pumpkin bread from having a soggy bottom is all about how you let it cool. When it comes out of the oven, let the loaf sit in the pan for a 5 minutes. Then, and here's the secret, turn it out upside down onto a cooling rack. Remove the parchment paper, and allow it to cool completely.

Strong flour has more protein and gluten and gives an overall heavier feel to the bread, both in weight and texture/taste. If you are already using strong flour consider using less yeast, this will cause the bread to rise less and be heavier, but this may make the taste and texture less pleasant.

Potato Flakes or Potato Water

Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier. If you are boiling potatoes, you can use the unsalted water in place of the water in your bread recipe to help out the yeast.

Pumpkin Bread from Cake Mix FAQ

When you add too much pumpkin purée, the center won't bake.

Sunflower flour does a funny thing where it turns green when baked… It's harmless, but not the most attractive food color. It doesn't affect the taste, so I'm totally fine with it.

Finally, it's important to let your quick bread cool completely before slicing it. If you try to slice the bread while it's still warm, it may crumble or fall apart. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, and then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

First, why the crack occurs: Since quick breads and pound cake batters tend to be thick and dense, the exterior bakes first. But as the center of the cake continues to bake, releasing moisture, it rises, pushing through the top crust, and creating a crack.

How to make quick bread less crumbly? ›

The texture of quick breads prepared with vegetable shortening will be more cake-like and less tender. Substitute equal amounts of shortening for butter or margarine and add 2 tablespoons water for each cup of shortening used. Learn more about Fats in Baking.

If too much leavening is added the batter can over rise and then the bread will “fall.” Too little leavening produces bread with a heavy, gummy texture.

Dry bread: Dry pumpkin bread is such a disappointment. To avoid dry, crumbly bread, try to keep your batter moist. Either do this by using less flour or adding more liquid — but don't add more oil. Instead, try adding orange juice or even bourbon to get some liquid into the batter.

Follow directions to determine doneness. Quick bread loaves will usually rise about the edge of the pan and the top will crack. The streak of batter visible through the crack will appear dry and the bread will pull away slightly from the sides of the pan when it is done.

You want to include at least 1 teaspoon of baking powder per cup. If your recipe contains a cup or more of decorative ingredients, add another 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder per cup of flour.

There may be several reasons for a dense, cake like texture in bread. It may indicate the kneading wasn't enough for the gluten to develop properly, or the dough was proved for too short a time or the dough may have been too dry. It is also worth checking the flour you used.

If your pumpkin muffins are overly dense, there may be a couple reasons why: Over-mixed batter. Be sure to mix the wet and dry ingredients together only until just combined. Mixing the batter too much can result in extra gluten development which can make the muffins dense or even gummy.

Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake that will yield a dry and dense cake.