Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Bread

So I have to admit I’m jumping on the trend a bit here. This recipe for peanut butter bread recently soared in popularity thanks to a Reddit post in r/old_recipes. Peanut Butter Bread quickly made some popular food blogs and online magazines and everyone seems to want to make it these days. I figure, why not give it a go and write about how to do it (for those who haven’t seen 10 articles about it already).

Unlike most bread, this recipe does not use yeast. In fact, it comes from a 1932 Depression era cookbook called “Five Roses: A Guide To Good Cooking” by Elizabeth Driver. There are only six ingredients and I am lucky they are all pantry staples. That makes this a perfect bread for our quarantine times, since you most likely have the ingredients on hand.

This bread is also no knead. Yup! There’s no kneading involved in making this peanut butter bread recipe, which saves your muscles a workout. I personally made the bread using the hook attachment in my stand mixer, but you could easily do it with a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. I found this recipe extremely easy, and I do not make bread often. In fact the only other bread recipes I have on the site at this time are a classic Georgian Bread/Lavash and a Poppy Seed Challah (also extremely easy).

Peanut Butter Bread Ingredients

• 2 cups (256 grams) Flour. All Purpose works just fine here.
• 4 tsp (10.5 grams) Baking Powder.
• 1/4 (50 grams) cup Sugar. Granulated.
• 1/2 tsp Salt.
• 1 1/3 cups (315 ml) Milk. I used 2.5% but you can use 2% or even whole.
• 1/2 cup (120 grams) Peanut Butter. Creamy, while I prefer crunchy in most cases, creamy works best in this recipe. I should also specify that you want to use a 100% pure peanut butter. There is enough fats in peanuts that any additives are just ways to save manufacturing money, so if you can try to get a quality jar.

Peanut Butter Bread Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (162 Celsius).

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl (or stand mixer. If the salt and sugar doesn’t go through the sieve then just whisk them in after aerating the flour and baking powder.

3. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring the whole time. If you are using a stand mixer with the hook attachment just let it run at the slowest speed.

4. Add in the peanut butter and let mix to fully combine.

5. Move the dough to an oiled baking dish and bake for about one hour. I baked for 55 minutes which seemed to be perfect. You can use a loaf tray, but I decided to bake in my emile henry cocotte to make a bread boule, which came out beautifully.

What To Eat This Bread With?

This peanut butter bread tastes like breadier peanut butter cookies, but it is not a cake. The sugar in this recipe is quite low. I treat this bread like a regular piece of freshly baked bread. Absolutely perfect with some high quality butter and flaky sea salt.

You can also use a few slices of this peanut butter bread to make delicious Peanut Butter Bread French Toast! It works as a dessert for normal people, or a breakfast for wannabe diabetics!

I even think this would be tasty as grenki – Eastern European croutons!