Incredibly Moist Pumpkin Bread - The Highest Rated Quick Bread Recipe For Fall (2024)

FAQs

Why is my pumpkin bread not moist? ›

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.

If your oven isn't up to temperature consistently during the baking time, you may experience sunken cakes or loaves. Use an oven thermometer to gauge the accuracy of your oven. At the very least, try waiting 10 minutes after the oven has beeped to signify it has preheated before actually baking anything.

Add Sugar

Sugar acts as a liquifying agent in the dough. Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture.

Some alternative ingredients can help give your bread added moisture. One such ingredient is milk, which has a high-fat content and can add a delightfully creamy flavor when baking. Additionally, adding mashed potatoes or cooked grains can help keep the crumb soft and tender for days after baking.

Too much baking soda or baking powder can mess up a recipe, causing it to rise uncontrollably and taste terrible.

Cook It on the Stove

Briefly cooking your canned pumpkin purée on the stove can help improve both the flavor and texture. This method helps reduce excess moisture, which gives the pumpkin a superior texture. It also releases the natural pumpkin flavor and helps reduce the metallic taste from the can.

Pies with too much evaporated milk formed blisters on top.

Though the interior of the filling had a great, creamy texture. The flavor was ever-so-slightly muted and had a hint of milkiness to it.

Quick Bread Basics

Overmixing your batter will cause a tough batter and an equally tough finished product. You do not want to develop the flour's gluten (protein). You want what is known as a tender crumb that will be achieved if you just combine ingredients without overmixing.

In addition to adding flavor and moisture, fat combines with sugar during “creaming”, to add lightness by trapping air that expands during baking. This lightness makes the quick bread tender, forming a finer grain in the baked quick bread.

Why did my pumpkin bread come out dry? ›

Overmixing can affect your dough by pushing in too much air and kickstarting extra gluten production, both things that can lead to gummy, dried out batter. Our Every Day Life notes that setting your oven too high and baking your bread too long could also be the source of dryness.

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.

Quick bread was underbaked and cell structure wasn't set. When the cell structure doesn't set, the air spaces created by the leavening in the recipe collapses, causing the bread to sink. Oven temperatures vary over time. To insure the correct temperature each time you bake, always use an oven thermometer.

Tenting a piece of tin foil on top of the loaf half way through the baking time helps to avoid drying out the top while the inside cooks.

(Note, if the puree is overly watery, you should strain it on cheesecloth or over a fine mesh strainer to get rid of some of the liquid.

Leaving the bread in the oven too long will dry out bread. If the bread has finished baking before the minimum time stated in the recipe, the oven temperature may not be correct. To insure the correct temperature each time you bake, always use an oven thermometer.

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.