Gluten-free Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Hello sweet pea's, it's tasty Tuesday!

Alright, let me begin by saying that I freaking abhore gluten-free baking!
Whaaaaaaaaat?!?
I know, I know, this is a blog dedicated to gluten-free, and it has a bunch of baking recipes; how can you possibly hate it you ask?
Well, I am speaking as an ex-Chef and ex-Pastry Chef, who, once upon a time, was able to work with gluten filled everything, without a care in the world. Let me tell you, that ish was waaaaaaaaay more stable, reliable, less fussy, actually a joy to work with, and bien moins cher (much less expensive-if I bust out the French, you know I am vexed.)
I remember first having to go gluten-free many years ago, it was a devestating blow. How does an unhappy Chef cope? By heading to the kitchen of course!

I made 7 attempts at cupcakes, tried to apply the numerous Chefie tricks I learned in professional kitchens, and even went back to culinary school days/cookbooks for inspo.
All of it was crappola, and I am not being modest.
It sucked to the suckieth of suckable suckie degrees!

Finally, I gave up using what I knew and tried a completely different tack, I went and bought a specialty cake mix from a local dude who knew what he was doing and had a tasty end product which people raved about.
I tried to never look back, but every now and then the baker in me insisted I try to take another crack at it.
It always went horribly wrong, oh, so, wrong...

To this day, I still suck at making my own mixes for cakes. I don't feel any way about this as I seriously do not have the health, finances, or patience required to keep going at it.
This may seem rather odd, and surprising to hear, you may think I should relish the challenge, but it is my shame to claim and I am fine with it.
Just like I cannot stand sharpening my own knives, turns out I am not alone, found out a few years back that a raw food Chef from New York felt the same way about knife sharpening and she always sent them out to have done. Shocking!
We are a so wrong and such a disgrace to our noble profession, totes cool with it.

The reason I bring all this up is because this mutha of a pumpkin spice loaf was my freaking Mount Everest, for the past month!
Yes, a month! I tried to make this recipe 4 times, on my weekends off! 4 freaking times!!!
Pardon my cussing, but the biatch wouldn't bake all the way through, no matter what I did.
See for yourself:

The last one was by far the worst, gummy goo mess; it was so bad I started singing a childhood television show theme song just to not start crying.

"Gummy bears, bouncing here and there and everywhere, high adventure that's beyond compare, they are the gummy bears."

It was seriously starting to feel pretty personal, and dreadful thoughts of Pinterest fails flooded my mind, kinda like this:

Bahahahahaha.
After the 4th try, I was discouraged, and I almost gave up. What was most vexatious was that it tasted boomtastic, the nasty mofo just would not cooperate in the oven! I went in my room to sulk and lick my pumpkin loaf mistake wounds.

So dramatic Kiki. My uncle always did call me his little Greta Garbo, I rather like that, she was quite strong of character.

Anywhoodles, we get back to the dastardly deed of making pumpkin loaf for the fall.
Something true and I think a bit cool about me, is that if I really put my mind to something, like, super duper decided, then tenacity takes over and pushes me through.

Yeah, so I know you're gonna think back on that cake mix thang I stated a few paragraphs back. Shhh, I cannot hear a word you say, as I am deliberately shoving my fingers in my ears while munching on pumpkin spiced noms.
I am happy to post that this pumpkin spice loaf, the 5th try, second recipe I baked on the same day, actually worked! Yipeeeeeee!

I went with my old Bob's Redmill AP flour, lowered the temperature, gave it plenty of extra time in the oven, and added my little light & fluff inducing vinegar baking soda mix, just at the end, before turning the batter into the loaf pans. It made for a wonderfully light, fluffy, and yum-scrum, pumpkin spice loaf!

I think making this vegan, refined sugar free, and using a liquid sweetener like maple syrup, made this batter heavy, the first attempts. None of it was aided by the pumpkin, which is another heavy ingredient. I gotta say, after much unbecoming cussing, trial and error, a pretty and loverly pumpkin spice loaf was my happy reward. Now you can try your hand at baking it too!
As always, pics follow below to help you along.
   

PUMPKIN SPICE LOAF
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:
1 Cup Bob's Redmill A.P flour mix
1 Cup Brown rice flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Xanthan gum
1 tsp Pink sea salt
1 tsp Ground cinnamon
1 tsp Pumpkin spice mix
3 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp Molasses
1 Cup Pumpkin puree (canned, not pie mix)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cup Buttermilked almond milk. (1 1/2 Cup almond milk mixed with 1 Tbsp lemon juice)
Flax eggs (3 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 1/3 Cup water)
11/2  tsp Baking soda mixed with 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (Only goes in after all ingredients are mixed in the bowl)

2/3 Cup maple syrup
Coconut sugar for sprinkling on top (about 2 Tbsp each loaf)

Method:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
Grease two loaf pans with coconut oil, or vegan margarine, or baking spray.

-In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
-In a separate bowl mix all wet ingredients, EXCEPT the 1 tsp baking soda and cider vinegar, keep until the end!
-Mix dry with wet, EXCEPT the 1 tsp baking soda and cider vinegar, keep until the end! Whisk until well incorporated.
-Now mix the baking soda and vinegar, quickly, then quickly pour into batter and stir in quickly.
-Pour into 2 prepared loaf pans
-Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
-Turn off oven, leave in for 20 mins more. This is very important to make sure it cooks all the way through. Even if the skewer for testing comes out clean when the oven was on, it needs the extra time to "bake", in the off oven.
-Remove from oven, let cool in pans for 20 mins, remove to rack and allow to cool completely before eating*.
*Bob's Redmill ap flour can be a bit beanie, so, I prefer to eat this loaf the following day but my tastebuds are more sensitive. Other's tried it the same day and had no complaints, but there were lots of crumbs on their shirts as they scarfed down rather quickly. Guess it was pretty darn good!

Only use canned pumpkin puree, no touchie pumpkin pie mix in a can!

I used a whisk to slowly incorporate the ingredients, then I added the "buttermilk"

I adore sprinkling coconut sugar on top of my loaf breads, it gives a beautiful extra sumthin' sumthin', to these tasty snacks.

I hope you enjoy my expensive, frustrating and tasty labour of love. Let me know how this turned out for you, in the comments section below.

Take care, be well, love freely...

Chef Kiki