Description
This Spiced Peach Bread is a moist, flavorful quick bread studded with juicy pieces of fresh peach and infused with warm spices. It’s perfect for breakfast, brunch, or a sweet treat any time of day.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup (200g) packed dark brown sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks, 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups (219g) cake flour (see notes for substitution)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 cups diced fresh peaches, skin on (about 3 smallish peaches, 1/2 inch dice)
- 1 teaspoon coarse sparkling sugar (optional, for topping) or granulated sugar or raw sugar (such as turbinado)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Pan: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the two long sides to create “handles” for easy removal of the bread after baking. Butter the parchment paper as well.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer (stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer), cream together the softened butter and dark brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Make sure there are no lumps of brown sugar remaining.
- Add Eggs: Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated. Continue beating for another 2-3 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves until well combined.
- Combine Wet and Dry Ingredients: Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with the room-temperature buttermilk. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Finish Mixing by Hand: Finish mixing the batter by hand with a rubber spatula, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is thoroughly incorporated, but being careful not to overmix.
- Fold in Peaches: Gently fold in the diced peaches until evenly distributed.
- Transfer to Pan: Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread it evenly.
- Add Topping (Optional): Sprinkle the top of the batter evenly with coarse sparkling sugar (or granulated/raw sugar).
- Bake: Bake in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean (or with a few moist crumbs attached). The top should be golden brown.
- Cool: Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, use the parchment paper overhang to carefully lift the bread out of the pan and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Using room-temperature butter, eggs, and buttermilk helps the ingredients emulsify properly, resulting in a more tender and evenly textured bread.
- Cake Flour: Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour, which creates a more tender crumb. If you don’t have cake flour, you can substitute all-purpose flour, but the texture of the bread may be slightly different.
- Measuring Flour: For best result use the weight.
- Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a substitute by adding 1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1/2 cup of milk. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes before using.
- Peaches: Use ripe but firm peaches for the best results. You can use yellow or white peaches.
- Do Not Overmix: Overmixing the batter can develop the gluten in the flour, resulting in a tough bread. Mix just until the ingredients are combined.
- Baking Time: The baking time may vary slightly depending on your oven. Start checking for doneness around 50 minutes.
- Serving Suggestions: This peach bread is delicious served warm or at room temperature. It’s great on its own, or with a spread of butter, cream cheese, or jam.
- rage: Store leftover bread, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.