This post may contain Amazon affiliate links.
Breakfast bread or nut bread is what we call any bread with fruit and nuts. Pumpkin Date Nut Bread is a family favorite. It’s the most moist nut bread. Banana bread, apple spice bread, carrot-cake bread, zuchinni bread.
Some nut bread can get dry. There are a couple of reasons nut breads can be dry.
- Most often is has to do with too much flour relative to the “wet” ingredients. Flour should be measured by using a spoon to add flour to your measuring cup, not by scooping into a measuring cup from your flour canister. The flour can get packed in and actually be more than what you intend.
- The second reason nut breads can be too dry is a lack of fat or liquid. In this recipe, we add 2/3 cup of fruit juice. And we’re using a lot of very very thick fruit puree. All of these ingredients will help keep this bread moist.
There are a couple of tools we really like to have on hand. Since this recipe makes 8 mini loaves, then you need mini loaf pans. I also use a hand mixer for this. It’s a lot of ingredients so you have to have a big enough mixing bowl. I have a stand mixer, but the bowl isn’t big enough for all these ingredients.
One last tip. If you are using all-purpose flour (not gluten free) do NOT over mix this batter. The gluten will develop and the bread will be spongy and chewy and drier. This is one of the cool benefits of using gluten-free flour… there is no gluten to develop.
I prefer to wrap these individually in foil after they cool so I can give them as gifts or freeze them to enjoy later.
Notes
A holiday traditional pumpkin or banana bread style with any fruit you want to use.
Apple sauce can work too, but eliminate the OJ if you using something that thin in texture.
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter (or coconut oil)
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups of very thick fruit puree (see notes below)
- 2/3 cup orange juice (or apple, pomegranate, cherry, grapefruit)
- 3 3/4 cup flour (all-purpose or gluten-free is fine)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp Sauce Goddess Moroccan Twist seasoning
- ½ tsp nutmeg (optional)
- ¾ cup chopped pecans, walnuts, pepitas or sunflower seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Grease the loaf pans and place a small piece of wax paper or parchment paper on the bottom.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and seasoning. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Adds eggs, vanilla, fruit puree and orange juice.
- Mix until creamy and smooth.
- Add in flour mixture. Stir to combine.
- Stir in nuts.
- Pour into the loaf pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the bread releases from the side of the pans. Approximately 40 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Carefully work a butter knife around the edge of the pan to ensure the loaf will come out freely.
- Flip the loaf pan over onto a cooling rack.
- Peel the parchment paper from the bottom of the loaf. It will steam.
- Thn let the loaves finish cooling before storing.
