This Depression Era Peanut Butter Bread is a vegan adaptation of the 1930s peanut butter loaf or bread that was popular during the US Great Depression when budgeting, making-do, and substituting ingredients was key to survival. More recently, Peanut Butter Bread has arose to popularity during the global pandemic and it became something of a lockdown baking sensation on social media! Peanut butter bread is a great recipe to have-to-hand as its an easy, quick, and budget-friendly bake that can be jazzed up with either sweet or savoury spreads and jams, toppings, and fresh fruit or enjoyed simply with a nice cup or tea, coffee or chilled oat milk.
Scoop the peanut butter mix into the flour and mix until its all combined.
Add the batter to the loaf pan and level out the surface.
Bake for 45-60 minutes, on the middle oven shelf. Exact times will depend on your oven and the bread will be ready when it has risen, is firm, and light golden. also a skewer popped in the bread will come out clean once it has baked through. As this is a quick bread there will likely be a crack on the surface but this is perfectly fine and is to be expected.Fan ovens bake faster so check after 45 minutes for doneness, our bread was ready after baking in a fan oven for about 45 minutes.
Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes in the loaf pan before removing to cool completely on a wire rack or even just place on a chopping board.
Notes
Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
Store peanut butter bread wrapped well in greaseproof paper and an extra layer of kitchen foil for up to 4 days. The wrapped bread can also be placed in a bread tin or other covered container. Or place into a food-grade bag intended for keeping bread fresh.
To re-freshen staler slices toast or grill slices of bread. Or place in a warm oven for a few minutes.
Freeze well wrapped in a layer of greaseproof or baking paper and a second layer of kitchen foil or a freezer-proof bag or food wrap for up t2-3 months.
The vanilla extract is optional but does provides additional flavour. The salt is also optional and may not be required if salt is already an ingredient within your peanut butter.
For an easy method on preparing your own home-made peanut butter or sunflower seed butter using a food processor or a more energy consuming method; a pestle and mortar, check out the recipe notes and FAQ section above the recipe.
For a nut free bread replace the peanut butter with sunflower seed butter [ground sunflower seeds] or toasted soya butter which is a peanut butter replacement. One brand is Wowbutter creamy toasted soya spread and can be found on Amazon, Tesco, Holland & Barrett, and Walmart.
For a gluten-free peanut butter bread replace the flour with gluten-free plain flour or all-purpose gluten-free baking flour, use gluten-free baking powder, and add about ½ teaspoon of xanthum gum to the flour to help the crumb bind together. An extra tablespoon of milk may need to be added if the bread batter looks too dry.