Pumpkin Bread Recipe | My Baking Addiction (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you don't put baking soda in pumpkin bread? ›

Baking soda is a leavening agent. It creates air bubbles (technically, carbon dioxide) in your batter, when heated. Without it, your baked goods will not rise to the desired levels and the airy texture you're looking for will be adversely affected.

You might think you could overcome the lack of flavor by adding more pumpkin purée to your recipe, but you'd be mistaken: By the time you've added enough purée to taste it, your baked good would have a soggy texture on account of all that moisture.

I use orange juice because a little liquid keeps the bread from tasting too dense. Milk works too if you don't have orange juice, but the subtle orange flavor is like magic in this bread. It just works. Chocolate Chips: Optional, but if you're a chocolate lover, pumpkin + chocolate is always a good idea.

You will have less luck with a low-fat recipe or one that is high in sugar. Ones with a lot of mix-ins like nuts, chips, crumble etc. tend to fall apart more easily than a pumpkin bread that has less texture.

Unless you have no other option, you really should use a leavening substitute. Other baked goods that rely more on rising — like cakes, muffins, and breads — cannot be made without baking soda or an acceptable alternative.

For baked goods that don't require too much leavening, such as cookies or pancakes, it's actually OK to leave out the baking soda completely — they just won't be as light and fluffy. If you do go this route when making pancakes, Gan recommends pouring less batter into the pan to cover the same surface area.

When taken by mouth: Pumpkin is likely safe when eaten in foods. It is possibly safe to take pumpkin seed or pumpkin seed oil in medicinal amounts. Side effects from pumpkin products are rare, but might include stomach discomfort, diarrhea, and nausea.

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 ...

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. Remember, it's always easy to keep cooking if it isn't done but impossible to take cooking time back.

Why does my pumpkin bread taste bland? Make sure to follow the recipe exactly. That means—don't leave out the salt, don't cut the amount of sugar, and use the specified amount of cinnamon. This is important because flour is what I like to call a “flavor thief”— it sucks the flavor out of ingredients.

Can I use baking powder instead of baking soda? ›

Baking powder is made of baking soda plus cream of tartar and cornstarch. Baking powder can be substituted for baking soda by tripling the amount of baking powder.

The oven temperature is off: Usually it's running too hot, and the outside looks brown before the center is baked through. But a low oven temperature can fool you too– you think you've baked long enough, but it's actually running 50 degrees too cool.

Bread without salt is still edible, it's just rather bland and pale. Serve with spreads, herbs, or salted butter for a boost of flavor.

Gluten helps bread maintain its shape and produces the "crumb" (or texture). If your bread does not have enough gluten, the crumb will not come out as expected. Different flours have varying amounts of gluten: white wheat flour contains the most, and whole-grain flours contain considerably less.

Most likely, you're letting it rise too long and too high. The term is “overproofed.” There's too much air and not enough structure when it hits the oven, so it expands even more in the heat, breaks the gluten strands, and sinks. Alternatively, you're knocking the air out of it when you're shaping the loaves.

Leaving baking soda out of the cake prevents it from rising, but you can use baking powder as a substitute. Baking soda is a salt that makes food light and fluffy. If you don't have this ingredient at hand, use a baking soda substitute. Without it, your cake won't rise and can turn out flat.

Aside from leavening, baking soda also increases the pH of the dough it is added to. This creates thickness, while weakening the gluten, to create tender baked goods. Compared to baking powder, baking soda is about four times as strong, and as such, recipes generally only call for a small amount.

Baking soda becomes activated when it's combined with both an acidic ingredient and a liquid. Upon activation, carbon dioxide is produced, which allows baked goods to rise and become light and fluffy (1).

Believe it or not, you can actually bake delicious banana bread without baking soda or another leavening agent to help it rise. Generally, it won't rise quite as much, but it will still taste absolutely delicious.