Persimmon Spice Bread

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.

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 ripe or over-ripe persimmons (enough for 1 cup purée)
• 10 grams (2 teaspoons) baking soda
• 140 grams (approximately 1 cup) whole wheat flour
• 70 grams (approximately 1/2 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 75 grams (approximately 3/4 cup) almond powder (also known as almond flour)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 100 grams (approximately 1/2 cup) raw brown sugar or tightly packed light brown sugar
• 75 grams (1/3 cup) melted unsalted butter, grape seed oil or canola oil
• ⅓ cup plain low-fat yogurt or buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

• Nutritional Information

  • Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

    337 calories; 14 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 18 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 67 milligrams cholesterol; 518 milligrams sodium

  Note: Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available data.
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1 9×5-inch loaf (12 slices)

Preparation

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. 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. 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. 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.

• 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.

1 hour 30 minutes