Pepper Pear Bread
Pepper? Pears? When I read this recipe I knew I had to try it.
I made it last weekend. The Man of the House and I both liked it. However the flavors were subtle, so we had different experiences. He tasted a slight nuance of pear and I didn’t. I enjoyed the slightest pop of pepper in the bread and he didn’t taste it all.
The bread was dense and had a thick crust. One feature of this recipe is that it contains no oil.
Pepper Pear Bread – Bread Machine Recipe
1 cup mashed, canned pears – read more about mashing pears below
1/3 cup water
4 teaspoons honey
1 egg, beaten
4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons yeast
The only problem I had with this bread was mashing the pears. I totally underestimated how hard canned pears are to mash with a potato masher. Here’s how the pears looked when I got done with them.
The next time I make this I’ll put them in the food processor.
By the way, I used a 15.25 ounce can of pears and that came out to one cup of mashed pears.
This makes a two pound loaf. Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. With my machine (a Zojirushi BB-PAC20 Virtuoso), I add the liquid first.
I used the basic bread setting and chose “medium” for the crust setting Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Pop the top of the bread machine and see how the dough is doing. It should be a smooth, round ball.
Here’s how it looked when I sliced it.
Wow, this recipe is amazing! I had some bottled pears that had partially frozen in the back of the fridge, so they were a bit mushy. Perfect for a recipe calling for mashed pears :-). The only oroblem was the full recipe was more than my bread machine could handle, and the top blew up so much that it pressed against the lid. I’ll try it again, maybe adjusting by half, hoping the flavors stay just the same.
First of all – thank you for posting all of the homemade recipes!
Tonight I made the 9th loaf in my new machine. Most all I have made are your recipes – only 2 from my ZO book. I purchased the new, large ZO – it’s great to have someone like you posting and sharing! THANK YOU! ?
I follow directions, ingredients, and measurements EXACTLY… the recipes end up in a perfect ball and cook perfectly.
However, the pepper pear recipe – when it began kneading – it looked like corn meal- I tried not to panic but after several moments – I added flour and some water. The dough was sooooo sticky! I then had to add lots more flour and take it out and knead it myself (bc the knead cycle completed).
I have 3 questions:
* What do you think went wrong and what’s the best way to avoid/fix a prob like this?
* Do you use the pear juice? (I drained my pears first).
* How do you store this bread and your breads?
I had some more pear bread and threw it out – I started getting paranoid re it spoiling (re pears) Bc I left it out in a ziplock.
**Even after the prob – this was the fav bread of my family. It ended up the moistest and the thick /fluffy texture was pretty and yum! My kids & hubby didn’t know they were eating pears!
Yummy!!!
Julie, I’m going to have to try this recipe again. All I remember about making it the last time was that I had a heck of a time mashing the pears. How did you mash them? I plan on using a food processor the next time.
I drained the pears. So we did that the same.
I slice and freeze my bread right away. Here’s more about that – https://www.breadmachinediva.com/2010/06/the-two-biggest-fears-about-bread-machines/