A New Bread for Fall

I combined a couple of recipe to create this lovely pumpkin cranberry bread for a potluck my husband was having today at work. The theme was "healthy eating" and one of the categories was gluten free. So, I decided to make this bread since I had some pureed fresh pumpkin and fresh cranberries from the farmer's market on hand.

And....I won a $20 cash prize for this bread in the gluten free category! It was fun and exciting to win!

This wonderfully moist gluten free, dairy free, soy free bread is so delicious it is more like cake! You could never tell it is gluten free or made in any other way than the traditional way of baking.

I know that this will become one of the favorite fall treats in our household.

I learned a lot about gluten free baking when we had Farmer's Tea- selling our baked goods at a farmer's market. There were many customers who came to appreciate our growing selection of gluten free treats. So, I love to combine recipes and create many new gluten free baked goods to try. Also, since we have a couple of friends who need to eat gluten and dairy free- having these types of things on hand is always great!

Enjoy this lovely bread!

First of all- before baking you need to create a special flour mix. If you live locally (in Oregon) I have found all three of the flours available at New Seasons- or if you go to Bob's Red Mill in Milwaukie, Oregon you can buy these flours in bulk which saves a lot of money.

The flour mixture is as follows (I usually mix up a large batch and store it in a zip lock bag or a storage container) I got this mixture idea from "Gluten Free Baking Classics" by Annalise G. Roberts. It is a wonderful book and a great one for coming up with baking ideas.

Small Batch of Gluten Free Flour:

2 cups brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour

Large Batch of Gluten Free Flour:

6 cups brown rice flour
2 cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca flour

The only other ingredient that is essential to gluten free baking is xanthan gum which helps hold the flours together and helps prevent baked goods from being too crumbly. It can be found in most stores. It is expensive but only a bit is used in each recipe and it lasts a long time. Below you can see a photo of all of the ingredients laid out:


Gluten Free Pumpkin Cranberry Bread:

Makes three 8x4 loaves- they freeze wonderfully!

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

• 3 cups brown rice flour mix (if you don't need to make this gluten free substitute all-purpose flour)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 3 cups granulated sugar
  
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree (or use fresh pumpkin that you have baked and pureed yourself- be sure to use a pie pumpkin or other sweet pumpkin for this
  
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries-chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 8x4-inch loaf pans.
2. Combine flour, spices, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Set aside.
   
3. Stir together sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice in bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.
4. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy a lovely slice of fall!!