lucky for me, this weeks baking challenge for tuesdays with dorie/baking with julia is a loaf of bread that calls for pumpkin puree. with all of these persimmons just begging to be run through the food mill, i couldn’t help but substitute the persimmon pulp for the pumpkin puree called for in the recipe!
native persimmons are small, about the size of a walnut in its shell or smaller. they are also full of large seeds. they can only be eaten if they are dark orange and squishy soft otherwise, they are so astringent you will literally feel the insides of your cheeks seal onto the surface of your teeth. the best thing to do with them is to wash the fruit you find on the ground under the tree-those will be so ripe that they have fallen from the branches. drain the fruit and run it through a food mill, it will take a lot to get any kind of volume. i collect them through the season, puree the fruit and store it in sandwich bags in the freezer. then i can take it out and thaw it as i need to.
as with any heavy, sweet dough, this one took a long time-easily double the time called for in the directions. it took at least 8 hours to come to 64 degrees and about 3 hours for the loaves to rise in the pans. honestly, they didn’t do much in the oven. it seems to me that there is just too much in there to make it light and rise quickly.
i didn’t have any small pans so i used two 8x5x3 loaves. they baked up in about 45-50 minutes, i used a thermometer and waited until the internal temp came up to 200 degrees.
this cheery loaf of bread brightened up a dark and dreary, rainy monday. it was so dark that i couldn’t get a nice color balance in the photo, my bread isn’t nearly that orange!
special thanks to our hostess with the mostess, rebecca of this bountiful backyard! bake on, may the force be with you…
will garden for cake 
Wow, persimmons. I love persimmons. Did the flavor come through? I thought the pumpkin flavor was too subtle, but then again, maybe I was expecting something sweeter like a quick bread. I enjoyed your blog.
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Next week I will be in Florida…where it’s persimmon season! I might just have to give your version a try! I loved this bread…so wonderfully delicious!! Yours looks gorgeous!!
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Last year a friend of mine gave me 20 persimmons from her tree.
I sliced them and dried them in the drier (like I do with apples).
They were totally yummy and lasted over one year. I love persimmons!
Your bread looks delicious and replacing pumpkin with parsimmon is a great idea. Thank you for sharing.
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I love persimmons. I wish I had some. Here they are far too expensive to use in a bread. I would have never thought to use them in place of pumpkin.
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I have never tasted persimmons–I really need to get out more. Looks like you made a tasty loaf. We loved these.
Have a great week.
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Did the persimmon flavor shine through? I just discovered persimmons last year and have really enjoyed baking with them (looking forward to this seasons crop).
Lovely bread!
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I had the same problem with my photo, but when the bread starts out with any yellow or orange coloring it is hard to adjust. I haven't ever eaten a persimmon. Thanks for sharing! Blessings, Catherine http://www.praycookblog.com
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Your bread is just as beautiful using the persimmons. Last year was the first for me using (tasting) persimmons in a salad – so yummy! Looking forward to the season.
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