I bring you this recipe with a warning. After you try it, you may never want to bake anything else ever again. It is just that good. If I had pears in the kitchen, I’d be making it again right now.
On my first flip through Southern Cakes, I marked the recipe for this bread because of Quinn’s affinity for pears. I thought it would be a nice treat for him. If I had known how much everyone who sampled it would like it, I would have made it much sooner. Either that, or I would have buried the recipe somewhere and saved us from our new all-consuming addiction.
To me, this is everything a quick bread should be. It’s moist, delicious, nutty, and just the right amount of sweet. It is very reminiscent of my mother’s zucchini bread, which she stopped making after the Christmas that my sister had her make a loaf to give to just about everyone she knew. It’s been a while since I had any of that zucchini bread, but I have to admit that I like this pear bread even better.
I opted to make the bread in a tube pan rather than in bread pans. In some future making of this bread, I want to try it as a cake. I can almost taste it with cream cheese icing.
Quick breads are one of my favorite baked goods. Their flavors and texture usually lend themselves to being served any time of day, from breakfast to a midnight snack. They might not be pretty and drool-worthy like some other baked treats, but they are every bit as delicious. What are your favorite quick breads?
39 responses so far ↓
1 Hélène // Jun 1, 2008 at 9:55 pm
I love making quick breads. This one looks really yummy.
2 tian // Jun 1, 2008 at 11:56 pm
the classis banana bread for sure (:
3 Stefanie Summerer // Jun 2, 2008 at 7:15 am
This looks delicious. In the fall, I’m always trying to come up with an apple bread recipe to use up the extras. Maybe this would work? My favorite quick bread is pumpkin bread hands down!
4 kimberleyblue // Jun 2, 2008 at 8:11 am
i love quickbreads - this one sounds perfect. pears must make it very moist.
5 Patricia Scarpin // Jun 2, 2008 at 8:44 am
I always look for baking recipes with pears, Jen, but they are not that common. This looks super yummy, I’ll be trying it!
6 Julie O'Hara // Jun 2, 2008 at 9:09 am
I make some pear muffins that I really love. This sounds great too!
7 lori // Jun 2, 2008 at 9:22 am
what kind of pears did you use? bosc? bartlett?
8 kiat // Jun 2, 2008 at 10:04 am
I just baked some pear bread. I just installed a brand new oven and this is my first time in baking anything in my life. I used crushed hazel nut instead of walnut. Delicious, although there’s not a hint of pear that I can taste. In my case, it took 40 minutes in the oven. Initially, I grate the pears by hand, but gave up and used a blender, which worked well. I used 4 pears in total to yield 2 cups of blended pear. As this is my first bake, I spent sometime googling the ingredients, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder are all new to me. I couldn’t find any pecan or walnut in the local market, so I bought some hazel nut, which I pressed with a big knife to crush it to chunks. The result is 5 loaves of nice looking pear breads, I’m going to give one to my mom and see if she’ll like it.
9 Katie // Jun 2, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I love quick breads too, what is there not to love. My favorite is Banana, I stock pile really ripe bananas in my freezer so I can make it anytime. This look fantastic.
10 Ashley // Jun 2, 2008 at 12:29 pm
This looks so yummy! My mom has the greatest banana bread recipe - so popular with our friends that she’s making a mini loaf for all of our wedding guests!
11 Abby // Jun 2, 2008 at 12:51 pm
It’s nice to see pears shine in a recipe! You honestly rarely ever see them. I made a pear-cornmeal cake one time long ago, but can’t remember seeing pears elsewhere!
I need one of those pans. Can you believe I don’t have one?
12 cindy lester // Jun 2, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I love Bread recipes! At Christmas I give several gift baskets to friends. I’m always looking for a new bread recipes. I’ll have to give this a try! Bet it would be real good with a cup of coffee!
13 giz // Jun 2, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Your pear bread is outstanding - it’s perfectly baked and looks wonderful. I’ve never tried a pear bread before but you’ve definitely peaked my curiosity.
14 jennifer // Jun 2, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Helene, thank you!
tian, I’m a big fan of banana bread, too.
Stefanie, your apple bread idea is definitely worth a try. Sounds good to me!
kimberleyblue, it is very moist.
Patricia, I don’t find many pear recipes either. Such a shame because they are so good!
Julie, pear muffins sound delicious. Yum!
lori, I’m pretty sure I used Bosc pears. I got whatever looked the best at the grocery store.
kiat, I love the idea of hazelnuts in pear bread.
Katie, I’ve never frozen bananas. I’ll have to try that.
Ashley, your mom is a trooper! That is quite an undertaking.
Abby, I couldn’t part with my tube pan. Lucky for you, this bread works well in loaf pans, too. Or, I would think a Bundt pan would work.
Cindy, I usually give quick breads for the holidays, too. This one would be a great addition to your recipe collection.
giz, thanks so much! I had not heard of pear bread either, but I’m so glad I’ve gotten to know it.
15 Meryl // Jun 2, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I love cinnamon bread, strawberry bread, chocolate bread…
16 christie // Jun 2, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I cannot wait to try this!
17 jennifer // Jun 3, 2008 at 10:58 am
Meryl, sounds like you and I have a similar affection for quick breads.
christie, let me know what you think when you’ve made it.
18 Lisa // Jun 3, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Great looking bread and blog! If I am baking, I know where to come to get a recipe.
19 jennifer // Jun 3, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Thanks, Lisa!
20 Morgana // Jun 5, 2008 at 1:26 am
It looks realy delicious. I’ve never made a pear cake, this could be a chance.
21 jennifer // Jun 5, 2008 at 11:44 am
Morgana, it’s very, very good. I highly recommend it.
22 Stephanie // Jun 8, 2008 at 5:59 pm
this is definitely going on my TO-MAKE-SOON (long) list. Thanks for sharing. I love things pear!
23 jennifer // Jun 9, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Stephanie, I hope you’ll like it! It’s so, so good.
24 Lorrie // Jun 11, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I’ve made that recipe tons of times and used canned pears, fresh and always chopped them not grated them. I’ve baked it in a loaf pan and as a cake. It’s so good that I use it in my wedding cakes often.
That is a wicked cookbook.
25 jennifer // Jun 12, 2008 at 11:41 am
Lorrie, I bet this makes a great wedding cake! Something a bit different than the traditional white cake.
26 Y // Jun 19, 2008 at 6:16 am
That fabulous first picture alone has sold me on the idea of making pear bread some time!
27 jennifer // Jun 19, 2008 at 9:46 am
Y, I can’t imagine anyone not loving this. Enjoy!
28 Karyn // Jul 24, 2008 at 3:59 am
I have now made the pear ‘bread’ twice. It makes 2 loaf tins (as we call them in NZ). It freezes well. Lovely moist cake. Good to find a cake recipe using pears. I love your site.
29 jennifer // Jul 24, 2008 at 8:55 am
Karyn, I’m glad you like it! I find myself wanting to make this quite often. It’s just so good!
30 Monica H // Oct 5, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I’m off to the kitchen to make this bread. I’ll post pics on my blog when I’m done. I can’t wait to try it!!!
31 jennifer // Oct 5, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Monica, I just made this again a couple of weeks ago. So, so good. Enjoy!
32 sharon // Oct 11, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Bought 4 qt. bartlets for a couple of dollars this am at the local farmer’s market. Landed on this site looking for unusual things to do with my pears.
The pic looks scrumptious. I will be trying this
recipe immediately.
I love the ease with which “newbies” can interact on your site. The comments and responses are very helpful and interesting. I will be visiting often.
33 jennifer // Oct 11, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Welcome, sharon! Enjoy the bread!
34 Kim S // Dec 9, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I just made this tonight! My loaf pan may be a bit large because I did not have enough for two, which was fine because I made mini muffins out of the remaining batter. Would you mind helping me ‘problem solve’? The perimeter of the bread rose first, and almost created a ‘crust’ before the middle had a chance to rise. Do you have any idea why this happened? My e-mail is trying4two at gmail dot com :O).
35 jennifer // Dec 12, 2008 at 7:58 am
Kim, I’ll send you an email so we can discuss.
36 megan // Jan 26, 2009 at 8:12 am
I LOVE this bread! I just made it this past weekend and it’s one of my new favorites! I’m going to post about it on my blog sometime today. Thanks so much for the recipe!
37 Milou // Mar 4, 2009 at 8:42 pm
When you combine the eggs, butter, sugar, etc. Do you mean with an electric mixer or just by hand, stirring?
Thanks!
38 jennifer // Mar 5, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Milou, either way is fine. It’s simple enough to mix that you don’t have to use a mixer. Enjoy!
39 DPLK // May 10, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Hi Jennifer, I just made this recipe yesterday (you can see my newest post on my blog for details), and I wanted to let you know that as always your featured recipes are top-notch as are your literary skills of persuasion and description. My family loved the pear bread–my father-in-law declared it was the best “cake” he’s ever had. And you’re so right about the addictive qualities of this bread!! I just want to keep eating… this will be a staple in my repertoire for sure!
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