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Pear bread is here and better than ever! This whole-wheat quick bread is deliciously flavored with fresh pear, fennel seeds (adds so much goodness), orange and cranberries. Made with buttermilk, this whole-wheat bread will surprise you with it’s moist texture and tender crumb.
This pear bread recipe is a riff off of an old muffin recipe I developed a few years back while at America’s Test Kitchen. My original muffin recipe called for only all-purpose flour but for this bread I wanted to completely replace the AP flour with whole-wheat.
How to replace all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour in baked goods:
As a general rule you can replace ⅓ of the total amount of flour (all-purpose) with whole-wheat flour. If you follow that rule, the texture and flavor of your baked goods will barely be altered.
100% whole-wheat quick bread
For this pear bread I wanted to go all the way, I wanted this quick bread to be made with 100% whole-wheat flour!
After quite a bit of research and preliminary formulation I came up with my first recipe test. I knew I needed to increase the liquid in the recipe due to how heavy and dense whole-wheat flour is. I switched out the yogurt and added buttermilk, slightly increasing the amount of oil, and adding fresh pear juice.
The result? And incredibly moist, tender bread that was 100% whole-wheat! WIN!
Next up—flavor combinations. This pear bread is uniquely flavored with fennel, cranberries and orange. Before you write it off, give it a try. The fennel adds something unexpected, yet delicious. It’s bound to be something you’ve never had before!
Whole-Wheat Pear and Fennel Quick Bread
Description
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons fennel seeds see note
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 medium bosc pears peeled and shredded
- 1 orange zested and juiced
- ½ cup dried cranberries chopped
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2½ cups whole-wheat flour 13¾ ounces
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar optional
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 300°F. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray, making sure to spray all edges. Set aside.
- Spread fennel seeds onto a sheet pan and transfer to oven for 10 minutes until lightly toasted and fragrant.
- Remove fennel seeds from oven and transfer to a small bowl to cool. Once cooled, measure out 1 tablespoon and set aside. Transfer remaining seeds to a spice grinder and process until finely ground. Measure out 2 teaspoons of ground fennel, save remaining for another use.
- In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, sugar and vanilla until pale in color. Set aside.
- Lightly squeeze juice from shredded pear, reserving 2 tablespoons. Measure out one packed cup shredded pear and transfer to a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons reserved pear juice, ¼ teaspoon orange zest, 2 tablespoons orange juice, and cranberries, mix to combine.
- Add buttermilk, oil, fennel seeds and ground fennel to pear mixture. Mix until combined.
- In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Form a well in the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Fold together until just combined and no flour pockets remain.
- Pour batter into loaf pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle top with turbinado sugar and transfer to oven.
- Bake for 55–60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool bread in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
