Low-Fat Pumpkin Cranberry Bread Recipe (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.

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.

There are a number of reasons your pumpkin bread came out dry. It's possible the particular flour you used was extra “thirsty” for liquid. Try cutting the amount of flour, or adding more milk. It's also possible your oven was too hot, or you baked the pumpkin bread for too long.

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.

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.

Bread, pumpkin contains 30 calories per 10 g serving. This serving contains 1.3 g of fat, 0.5 g of protein and 4.3 g of carbohydrate. The latter is 2.3 g sugar and 0.1 g of dietary fiber, the rest is complex carbohydrate. Bread, pumpkin contains 0.2 g of saturated fat and 3.8 mg of cholesterol per serving.

Whole Foods Pumpkin Bread (1 serving) contains 28g total carbs, 27g net carbs, 11g fat, 3g protein, and 220 calories.

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.

How do you know when pumpkin bread is done? ›

So, to know when pumpkin bread is done, look for the crack on the top of the bread, which is a tell-tale sign it's either done or close to being done. Then stick a skewer or toothpick into the center of the bread. If it comes out clean, it's ready to come out of the oven.

Setting the Oven Temperature Is Too Hot

If your oven runs hot, your bread is likely to brown and bake up on the outside before the center has a chance to fully cook. Invest in a simple oven thermometer to help verify the temperature. Make sure you have other bread baking essentials in your kitchen, too.

For example, fats like butter or oil can help keep moisture in, while sugars will help to caramelize on the outside and create a golden crust. These ingredients can also play an essential role in keeping your bread moist when added in smaller quantities.

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. Try running a butter knife or metal spatula all the way around, pressing against the pan (not against the bread).

Over-Baking: Baking bread for too long or at too high a temperature can cause the crust to become overly browned and bitter.

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).

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.