Healthy Vegan Pumpkin Spice Bread

The chill has finally settled in, the leaves have all turned, and daylight savings is about to end. It has taken me awhile but I’ve finally said goodbye to summer and am finally settling into fall. I’ve put away the summer clothes and have switched back to hot coffee. This also means I’m starting to cook and bake more hearty and warming recipes including pumpkin everything!

If you are looking for a fluffy, buttery pumpkin bread then I’m sorry to say this is NOT your bread. Instead this bread is SWEET, FLAVORFUL and HEALTHY. Its also a bit denser than your “white flour/egg/butter” pumpkin bread recipe. It is made with unrefined sugars, whole wheat pastry flour and is egg-free/dairy-free. I promise that no one will even suspect its vegan (my family certainly did not!)

Key Ingredients

Whole wheat pastry flour – Whole wheat pastry flour is more finely ground than whole wheat flour and produces a lighter, softer bread. It also has less gluten than whole wheat flour.

Pumpkin spice blend – The key here is to make your own spice blend! I love the pre-made pumpkin pie spice blends when you are in a pinch but they don’t yield the same flavor. I didn’t have powdered ginger so used real ginger that I grated with a microplane and WOW! The bread turns out so much more flavorful when you use the actual spices.

Flax egg – Flax eggs work well in this bread with the whole wheat pastry flour but as a result, the bread is a little denser.

Arrowroot powder – The arrowroot powder further softens the gluten proteins in the flour and makes a more tender bread. You can use cornstarch as a substitute.

Okay now let’s talk about the streusel topping. The topping is totally optional but it add a little more sweetness. I’ve made it both ways (with and without) and I encourage you to make the struesel!

I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar but you can totally use brown sugar if you don’t mind refined sugars. I also used coconut oil here which DID NOT add an overt coconut taste to the bread. The topping also calls for pumpkin pie spice. Here I used the jarred spice mix for a shortcut since it is just the topping. I did not feel like it negatively affected the taste. If you don’t have a jarred pumpkin pie spice mix, you can also just use cinnamon.

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