Great Harvest Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread (Copycat Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

Why did my pumpkin bread come out gummy? ›

If your pumpkin spice bread is gummy or undercooked in the center, it's typically because it either 1) needed more time to bake in the oven or 2) the batter was too wet, which led the bread to collapse in on itself a bit (this happens if you measure ingredients by volume, rather than by weight: it's easy to ...

Why is My Pumpkin Bread So Dense? 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.

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.

The thick, rough crack is a sure sign of insufficient steam. The crust wasn't moist enough to be flexible, so it hardened and set before the loaf was done expanding. Another possible reason is that your baking temperature was too high, resulting in the same effect.

Pumpkin Bread from Cake Mix FAQ

When you add too much pumpkin purée, the center won't bake.

Sunflower flour does a funny thing where it turns green when baked… It's harmless, but not the most attractive food color. It doesn't affect the taste, so I'm totally fine with it.

All it takes is a small amount of dough enhancer per loaf to create a much lighter and fluffier result. Using a dough enhancer like Vital Wheat Gluten works to improve the texture and elasticity of the dough and elongate the strands of gluten. Doing so allows more room for the gas in the dough to develop and rise.

It's important not to use too much baking soda in recipes, as it can result in a metallic, soapy flavor. It is much more powerful than baking powder – you only need about 1/4 teaspoon baking soda per cup of flour to leaven baked goods.

The oven temperature is off: Usually it's running too hot, and the outside looks brown before the center is baked through. But a low oven temperature can fool you too– you think you've baked long enough, but it's actually running 50 degrees too cool.

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.

How to make bread more moist? ›

Baking temperature

If the oven is too hot the loaf will be brown and crispy on the outside but doughy in the middle and may collapse as it cools. When bread is baked at too low a temperature it will not rise enough in the oven resulting in a dense and sunken loaf.

It's not as easy as they make it sound to salvage undercooked pumpkin bread, but if you're lucky this handy trick will work. Heat the oven to 350 F, return the bread to the oven, and bake for another 10 to 20 minutes. This should cook the inside and will work even if the loaf has cooled a little.

HOW DO I STORE PUMPKIN BREAD AND FOR HOW LONG? Place in an airtight container or resealable plastic bag for up to 4 days. To freeze, wrap in heavy-duty foil or plastic wrap and then place in a tightly sealed container or heavy-duty resealable freezer bag. Freeze for up to 2 months.

Generally, bread sticking to the pan is caused by one of two things: the coating in the pan or the temperature the bread was baked. Bread baked too hot will turn out gummy and dense, and will not have that perfect spring you are looking for.

Uneven heat in your oven can be the culprit – if you loaf is nicely golden on the outside but gummy or moist in the inside, it's baking too quickly on the outside. Trying reducing the temperature you're baking at and bake for a bit longer. Experiment until you find the sweet spot, and take notes along the way.

After you slice into your round and realize it's gummy, turn the oven back up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. No need to crank it higher — the extra heat will only encourage the exterior to burn. Then return the loaf for an extra 10 to 20 minutes.

Your dough can become sticky when you add too much water or the flour isn't suitable for the type of dough you are making. Over proofing or fermenting the dough can also result in the gluten structure weakening causing sticky dough.

The crumb structure of an under proofed loaf will be tight and gummy. Because it was not given enough time to develop and trap CO2 gasses, the crumb structure will be very dense, with uneven air bubbles.