It’s a classic: (gluten free) pumpkin bread! And yet I’d never actually made it until a few days ago when I had the autumnal urge to grab an armful of tins of pumpkin puree at the store and start baking everything fall-ish. I’d also seen dozens of photos of luscious, spiced, perfectly soft, pumpkin-y pumpkin bread all over Instagram and just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I’d had pumpkin bread before, but had never baked up a loaf myself and didn’t have a go-to recipe for gluten free pumpkin bread. Enter the first ground-up recipe development I’d done in years! When I first started dipping my toe in recipe development in 2018, I was absolutely lost and terrified about how to structure and build a recipe from scratch, despite feeling very comfortable following them, so I came up with a way to learn how to recipe-build: search for a bunch of top-rated recipes of the item you’re thinking of baking, and chart out all of the ingredients and their amounts to compare quickly and see what the common or not-so-common ratios and ingredients are for that baked good. It can be a fun exercise to get familiar with recipes for specific items and even if you don’t go on to develop your own recipe, it could also help you be able to understand the whys or why nots of other recipes that you see in the future and perhaps even spot a “good” recipe vs one you might not enjoy! This is all with a grain of salt, because I usually look at non-gluten free recipes and then apply my cultivated knowledge of how to translate recipes into gluten free versions. And after a quick look at a few pumpkin bread recipes, I felt that I had the lay of the land and then went off and used my own likes, experience, and inklings to draft up a completely new/original recipe.
As a quick tip: pumpkin bread is best (in my opinion) when it’s perfectly moist. Dry pumpkin bread does not appeal. So moisture was top here. Pumpkin puree already helps with some moisture, but other ingredients and ratios are key as well. So I chose oil instead of butter (usually leads to more moist cakes/quick breads), and the earthy notes of olive oil sounded delicious with pumpkin so opted for that option over another clear oil. I also swapped in a good amount of blanched almond flour and swapped in some dark brown sugar (higher moisture content) which I’ve found lead to more moist cakes/quick breads. The spices are a mix of my fall favorites, but as flavorings, you’re welcome to adjust these per your taste!
Love pumpkin and also want to bake everything this fall? Here are some of my other gluten free pumpkiny favorites: pumpkin coffee cake muffins, pumpkin madeleines, pumpkin pie, pumpkin swiss roll, pumpkin chocolate chip bundt, pumpkin donuts.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
Equipment
- 1 8×4 loaf pan (you can use a 9×5 loaf with adjusted baking time!)
- electric mixer or whisk
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 Cup white sugar 130g
- 1/4 Cup packed dark brown sugar 66g
- 1/2 Cup olive oil (light or medium) 120ml
- 1 Cup pumpkin puree 270g
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 Cup gluten free 1-1 flour mix 155g
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (omit if your 1-1 mix already has this in it)
- 1/2 Cup packed blanched almond flour 90g
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit (Celsius: 180°/160° with fan ). Grease the 8×4 loaf pan (or 9×5 if that's what you have! adjusted bake times below) with salted butter. I recommend adding a wide strip of parchment paper to line the pan so that it's easy to lift out the loaf but it's not required.
- In a large bowl, use either an electric mixer or a hand-held whisk to beat together the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar. Add the olive oil, pumpkin puree, and vanilla and beat to combine. Add all of the remaining ingredients (flour, almond flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and soda, and spices), and whisk or beat until smooth (about 30 seconds).
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and then bake for 55-65 minutes (I highly recommend getting and using an oven thermometer because each oven varies wildly in how hot it actually gets when you set the temperature!) until a skewer or knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. If you're using a 9×5 loaf pan, monitor the time from about 45 minutes and check if your loaf is done, then add time as needed). Let cool about 15 minutes before tipping it out and serving!
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your pumpkin bread!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
