I traveled earlier this week and stocked up the house with food for my husband and son before I left. When I came home, the three beautiful pears I left for them to snack on sat in the fruit basket ripened beyond the point of wanting to eat them. Darn. All turned out okay though since I remembered I had been wanting to create a recipe for pear bread. It was Thursday night, and it was a good time to make a breakfast treat for the upcoming weekend. As I write this now (Friday night), we have one of two loaves left!
A nice alternative to classic banana bread, fresh pear chunks are dotted throughout this spiced-up quick loaf. It doesn’t matter if your pears are near mush. Turns out mushy pears are perfect for pear bread. I chose to lighten the loaf a bit by using 1/2 applesauce in place of 1/2 cup oil (so… 1/2 cup oil + 1/2 cup applesauce). You won’t see any difference in flavor if you do it that way. The applesauce keeps things moist just as the oil does.
If you’ve got some ripening pears, give this bread recipe a try. Make a loaf for you and make a loaf for a friend (unless your family dives in before you can object!) You might also like to try my friend’s fabulous recipe for pear buttermilk breakfast cake. That’s good too!
