Gluten-free, Dairy-free Pumpkin Quick Bread

“Gluten-free food at Waldorf school” is something of an oxymoron; those places love their wheat! My son brings his own bread and muffins for snack to replace the homemade, whole wheat organic snacks the students and teachers make in the classroom.

Our GF bread ready to freeze for the next few weeks of school

Last night my husband said to some friends of the boy’s school and his diet, “E has his own bread,” which I revised as “We make bread for him and bring it.” This is no small feat as I am not a big baker, but I’m happy to say that only once this year did I have to resort to sending a piece of packaged millet bread.

Since E and I have both tested as sensitive to yeast and should probably also avoid it to quell Candida, I prefer to make simple quick breads. They are, also, quicker!

After much trial and error with various ingredients and attempts to remove sugar, here is the recipe I have adapted from Monica Corrado of Simply Being Well, who, in her GF cooking classes has referenced Analise Roberts’ Gluten-Free Baking Classics. The big change I’ve made (in addition to not caring how the loaf looks) is taking out most of the sugar and using maple syrup and coconut milk instead.

GF pumpkin quick bread

This bread isn’t going to hold together for sandwiches and it’s not going to rise to great heights, but it’s delicious.

At this time of year, I’ve been making this bread with pumpkin, but you could substitute more applesauce, or butternut squash, or just some well blended/mushy zucchini and carrot. It’s no secret that I am pretty much a trial-and-error kind of gal; you’ll never catch me telling you my measurements are exact and must be followed strictly. Let’s hope you’re willing to eat something that might not look award-winning but tastes great.

GFCF Pumpkin Quick Bread

2 1/4 cups GF flour mix

I used 1 3/4 cup almond flour for extra flavor, moisture and protein with 1/4 cup sorghum flour and 1/4 cup millet flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon maple or date sugar (or Rapadura or Sucanat)

Optional flavoring: 1/2 tsp cinnamon or small amounts of nutmeg, cloves and ginger if you’re looking for more of a sweet treat that reminds you of pumpkin pie. Those spices also work for a “morning glory” bread concept with zucchini and carrot. If you are using butternut squash and looking for more of a savory bread, you could try a little more salt or Herbamare with some basil, oregano, rosemary and/or thyme.

1 cup liquid mix – coconut milk, maple syrup or molasses, applesauce and/or pumpkin

The ratios depend on how sweet you want the bread vs. how full of a veggie/fruit. I used almost 3/4 cup pumpkin (baked and blended until smooth) and the rest (full fat) coconut milk and applesauce with maybe a Tablespoon of maple syrup and a smidge of molasses. Pumpkin is creamier/thicker, and applesauce and some other veggies might be more watery.

2 (pastured) eggs, beaten

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla and/or almond flavor or another flavor

Mix all the dry ingredients and set aside.

Mix all the wet ingredients. Be sure that the eggs and the other ingredients are warmed to room temperature first so that they mix with the warmed coconut oil instead of turning it solid. But also make sure the coconut oil is just melted and not so hot that it will start to cook the eggs when they come together!

Mix wet and dry together and spoon into a bread pan (lined with parchment paper if you want to avoid Teflon) and smooth out on top (more than I did in the photo above!)

Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 25-40 minutes. Check at 20 minutes to see how clean your fork comes out.

GF mini-muffins with added nuts and raisins

Last time I used most of the batter for bread and then added to the rest of batch: raisins, chopped crispy pecans (soaked and dehydrated at 105 degrees), vanilla and a little extra maple syrup and made into mini-muffins that took just about 8-10 minutes to bake.

For the photos here, I’d upped the xanthan gum to 1 tsp as listed above, and my husband noted how spongy the dough was. Although the bread did crumble, it was a soft, moist crumble rather than a gritty, dry crumble. The muffins held together well.

Everything was delicious!