Persimmon Spice Bread

By Martha Rose Shulman

Persimmon Spice Bread
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Rating
4(376)
Comments
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At my farmers’ market one vendor was selling over-ripe fuyu persimmons for $1 a pound and I bought a few pounds just to make purée, which I used for dense, sweet quick breads like this one and for muffins. According to Deborah Madison, persimmons contain enzymes that will react with the flour and prevent the bread from having a nice crumb, so you must first neutralize them by stirring baking soda into the purée. This also causes the purée to become gelatinous, but the gelatinous mash is easy to break up with a whisk and will dissolve when added to the batter. Freeze any leftover purée.

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Ingredients

Yield:1 9x5-inch loaf (12 slices)
  • 2 to 3ripe or over-ripe persimmons (enough for 1 cup purée)
  • 10grams (2 teaspoons) baking soda
  • 140grams (approximately 1 cup) whole wheat flour
  • 70grams (approximately ½ cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 75grams (approximately ¾ cup) almond powder (also known as almond flour)
  • 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼teaspoon ground allspice
  • ⅛teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½teaspoon salt
  • 2large eggs, at room temperature
  • 100grams (approximately ½ cup) raw brown sugar or tightly packed light brown sugar
  • 75grams (⅓ cup) melted unsalted butter, grape seed oil or canola oil
  • ⅓cup plain low-fat yogurt or buttermilk
  • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½cup raisins
  • ½cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

249 calories; 13 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 30 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 13 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 250 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with a rack in the middle. Butter or oil a loaf pan and line with parchment. Oil the parchment. Cut the persimmons in half along the equator, remove any visible seeds and scoop out the pulp, which should be nice and soft. Purée with a hand blender or in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and measure out 1 heaped cup (260 grams). Freeze the remaining pulp.

  2. Step 2

    Stir 1 teaspoon of the baking soda into the persimmon pulp and set aside. It will stiffen into a gelatinous mass but don’t worry about it. Sift together the flours, remaining baking soda, spices, and salt.

  3. Step 3

    In a standing mixer fitted with the whip, or with a hand beater or whisk, beat together the eggs and sugar until thick and they ribbon when lifted with a spatula, 5 to 8 minutes. Beat in the melted butter or oil, the yogurt, persimmon purée, and vanilla and beat until the persimmon purée has blended into the mixture.

  4. Step 4

    At low speed, beat in the flour in 3 additions. Fold in the raisins and the optional nuts. Scrape into the loaf pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, until the bread is firm and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven, remove from the pan and allow to cool on a rack.

Tip
  • Advance preparation: The bread is best if wrapped once cooled and allowed to sit for a day, to let the spices mature. It will keep for 3 or 4 days at room temperature and freezes well.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
376 user ratings
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Comments

Silicon Valley Chicken Farmer

Love this. Have made it twice now, today made four loaves to give away for Thanksgiving (and two for us). Used unpeeled persimmons whirled in food processor, replaced sugar with 1T. molasses, walnuts with pecans, the spices w/2 t. pumpkin pie spice, and raisins with dried cranberries. Best use for the persimmons from our tree.

Jared B

I've made this recipe a few times now and it's very flexible and forgiving. I use whole persimmons (peel and all) and I reduce the sugar by half, add a tablespoon of molasses, a half-teaspoon of ginger, orange zest, and pecans instead of walnuts. I also added a quarter cup of flax seed meal.

Ann Brown

To make this recipe gluten free, I used all almond flour. I used 1/4 cup coconut sugar, 2 cups persimmon pulp, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1 teaspoon cardamon. I'll report back on the taste and texture once we dish it up.

MCL

Enjoyed immensely - followed the recipe as closely as I could. Subbed milk with lemon for buttermilk and replaced sugar with an additional persimmon for health reasons. My persimmons were overripe, on the verge of only being suitable for compost, and it worked perfectly.

Sophie

I used coconut sugar instead of regular sugar (weighed out the same 100g) and used chopped apricots instead of raisins and it’s delicious!

B. Broussard

I had a big pile of ripe and overripe persimmons given to me by a friend who has a tree full of them. They are beautiful to look at but have a very delicate flavour. This bread is tender, moist and tasty, but it doesn't (and can't really) taste like persimmon; however, it's a great way to use up the fruit. If you love the flavour of persimmon, I would suggest a pudding or sorbet that makes the most of the delicate taste. This bread is really good, but it tastes like a really moist spice cake.

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