Pumpkin is one of our favorite fall flavors! That why we’re just nuts about this soaked grain recipe, which captures the moist, delicious flavor of pumpkin, combined with crispy walnuts and chewy raisins.
If you’re new to soaking, check out “How to Soak Grains for Optimal Nutrition.” At first, it may seem strange soaking your flour, but do it just one time and you’ll be hooked on how easy, delicious and nutritious it is!
And if you’d prefer to make this delicious bread without using the soaking process, please pop on over for my whole grain Perfect Pumpkin Bread recipe at OC Family.
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic whole spelt flour
- 1 cup organic kamut flour
- 3/4 cup filtered water
- 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk (or plain whole milk kefir)
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp rapadura (or sucanat)
- 3/4 cup pureed organic pumpkin
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup organic raisins
- 1/3 cup chopped crispy walnut pieces
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, water, maple syrup and rapadura. Mix in flours until well combined. (Mixture will resemble cake batter.) Cover the bowl and place it in a warm area of your kitchen for 12-24 hours.
- Once soaking time is completed, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk into the soaked batter all remaining ingredients, except the raisins and nuts. (The soaking process yields a thick batter, which may require some effort to combine. Don’t worry, your patience and effort in mixing will be richly rewarded!)
- Next, fold in the raisins and nuts. Pour the batter into a well-oiled 9x5-inch loaf pan making sure to leave at least one-inch from top of batter to top of pan to allow room for bread to rise during bake time. (Non-stick Tip: Coconut oil works great in keeping bread from sticking to the pan, but you can also use olive oil or butter.)
- Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Then, lower oven temp to 325 degrees and continue baking for an additional 20 minutes, until bread is a rich brown color and a knife inserted in the center comes out fairly clean. (It should have a smudged look to it, but not thick batter attached to it.) Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes in the pan.
- Using a knife, gently loosen the bread from the sides of the loaf pan and place a large plate over the top and invert it to turn bread out upside down onto the plate. Then simply use your hands to gently lift the bread and turn it right side up onto the plate. Allow it to finish cooling before slicing, if you can wait that long. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe Variation: For an extra sweet treat, keep the walnuts, but substitute the raisins with fair-trade 65% or higher dark chocolate chips to create decadent "Nutty Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread!" Yum!
I am so glad that I found your blog. I am just learning about GMO’s and how terrible they can be for you. However, I am trying to wrap my head around having to soak items before baking and cooking them. Usually when I make something it is a decision that I made 10 minutes before I start getting things ready. I need to do a lot more planning in order to make something like this work. How does this type of cooking impact your budget? My husband works full time and I am working part time and we have a 4 year old little man. I want to do what is best for my family but I am nervous/intimidated about making so many changes. Any advice? Thanks so much!
Hi, Erin! Thanks for your note! I applaud you for wanting to make healthy changes for your family and believe me, I know it can be a bit overwhelming! So remember, the key is to make slow, steady progress.
The articles listed below should help answer your questions. You’ll notice that I’m a huge fan of meal planning – it not only will help you be able to plan ahead for things like soaking, but it will also address your question about maintaining your food budget. That’s because meal planning helps you to not only save time, but money too. And the article about Real Food on a Budget, also has recommendations about how to prioritize so that you’re not overwhelmed.
Again, I wrote these articles to answer most of the questions I receive on these topics, but if after reading these, you have more questions, please feel free to email me at: the nourishing home at gmail dot com (or you can use the contact form in the ABOUT section of this website). Many blessings to you and your family! 🙂 Kelly
Recommended reading:
• Meal Planning: http://thenourishinghome.com/2012/03/mastering-meal-planning/
• 8 Tips for Real Food on a Budget: http://thenourishinghome.com/2012/03/8-tips-for-real-food-on-a-budget/
• How to Soak Grains for Optimal Nutrition: http://thenourishinghome.com/2012/03/how-to-soak-grains-for-optimal-nutrition/
Hi, Kelly. I’ve just found your website and though I am relieved that I can just soak my flour instead of sprouting some wheat, drying it and grinding it, I still have some limitations. I live overseas and can’t find raw milk, nor cultured buttermilk for sure, but I do have some spelt flour (at a BIG price…). So, can I use yogurt instead of the buttermilk in this recipe (and others)?
Yes, you can use whole milk yogurt and you can also use whole wheat flour as well. Hope you enjoy this! Thanks so much for your kind words! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Oh, wow, that’s great. We have yogurt coming out of our ears, here. Is there an advantage to using buttermilk? I could send for a buttermilk starter or something… As with my other question about rye flakes, I could send for some if they work better. And how do I know if something works or not? Just by “gut reaction?” (no pun intended!)
The rye flakes are nice because they don’t alter the taste or texture of the granola at all. So if you can get some, you might really enjoy them better. They won’t differ in as far as your reaction. So if you can tolerate cracked rye or rye flour, you’ll also be fine with rye flakes. I like buttermilk because it’s so easy to make and so I use it a lot. It’s also less dense than yogurt, which does impact some recipes. 🙂
Oh, Kelly. I just made the pumpkin bread and when I put it on a plate to eat, I actually started to tear up (in my eyes, that is). I just looked at that slice of bread, and thanked God for something so good for me. I have enough for 2 weeks of breakfast, I think! Yippee!
Aww, that is so sweet, Kristen! May the Lord bless your sweet, grateful heart! I’m so glad you shared this note. You’ve really blessed me with your example of thanksgiving! Blessings to you, Kelly 🙂
Hi, love your recipes and website. wondering for this pumpkin bread…can i substitute other flours? I have brown rice, quinoa, oat and almond flours. thanks
Hi, Mindy. Thanks for your kind words! I’m so happy your enjoying this site. Unfortunately, substitutions among different flours are not an easy process. This particular recipe was developed using gluten-based flours, so to try to sub with a non-gluten flour(s) will not work. Instead, I would recommend you try my pumpkin pie muffins using blanched almond flour, they are absolutely delicious! Here’s the link: http://thenourishinghome.com/2012/09/pumpkin-pie-muffins-gf/
Blessings, Kelly
Can I substitute milk kefir for the water?
Hi, Pricilla. You can certainly use milk kefir in place of the buttermilk, but the water is used so the mixture isn’t so thick. You can try using all milk kefir, I haven’t tried that, but I did find using all buttermilk to be too thick. Lots of blessings, Kelly 🙂
Good Morning! I’ve been looking for ways to use up my kefir and I’ve got a mixture of flours to use up and wondered since they are all gluten-free would it be ok. I am an avid cook but no so much of a baker. My flurs are millet, amaranth and a gluten free all purpose. thank you Kelly for any and all advice- Blessings back to you!
Hi, Nancy. This recipe is not gluten-free. It’s an old recipe back before I went GF. You will definitely need to find a GF recipe as trying to convert conventional gluten flour recipes into GF recipes can be a bit tricky. I do have a great pumpkin bread recipe in my GF Cookbook, Everyday Grain-Free Baking, which is available on Amazon and via Barnes & Noble. But I also have a great Pumpkin Bar recipe that you might like to try. Here’s the link to this recipe: http://honeyvillefarms.blogspot.com/2015/10/almond-flour-pecan-praline-pumpkin-bars.html#.Vjl21GSrRaU It’s from my cookbook as well. I shared it on Honeyville’s blog. Hope you enjoy it. Blessings, Kelly 🙂