Cast Iron

Skillet Persimmon Bread

January 21, 2013
5
2 Ratings
  • Makes a dozen nice wedges or so
Author Notes

I love persimmons. I first ate one about 2 years ago when my roommate at the time handed me a slice of something orange and a bit slimy and said, "Here, eat this," and since then, I've looked forward to persimmons in their season almost as much as I look forward to summer peaches. But just as I turn to pies and cobblers when the bounty of fresh peaches becomes too much for plain eating, sometimes I find persimmons need a bit of baking to keep them interesting through the season-hence, this bread. I suppose you could bake it in a loaf pan if you wanted, but the skillet maximizes surface area and leaves you with more caramel crust which is, in my opinion, the best part of any sweet quick bread. The recipe was adapted from a whole bunch of such quick bread recipes -- I can't say I came up with the general formula, but the exact proportions here are all mine. —summersavory

Test Kitchen Notes

The best thing about this bread: it improves with age. On the day I made it, I couldn’t taste much of the persimmon, but the flavor popped more the longer I let the bread sit. The flavors were still fairly light, but became much more vibrant on the second day. The bread also remained extremely moist overnight. I would have never thought to include this flavoring in homemade bread but I’m happy I did -- and I plan to make this again! —pdagnes1

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup melted butter, cooled
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup plain yogurt, preferably whole-milk
  • 1 heaping cup pulp from very ripe persimmons
Directions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet. Be sure you grease it well: if you want to just melt the butter in the skillet, add an extra bit to the half cup. Otherwise, rub a tablespoon or so all over the cold skillet so everything's nice and coated.
  2. Whisk together all the dry ingredients except the brown sugar: flour, salt, soda, spices, and white sugar. In another bowl, beat together the butter, eggs, yogurt, and persimmon pulp. Mix the brown sugar into the wet ingredients, and then pour the wet into the dry and mix until everything's thoroughly moistened.
  3. Pour the batter into your well-buttered skillet and bake for about 1 hour. Cool for a bit in the skillet before slicing.

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2 Reviews

ajpelle January 30, 2021
Delicious! I’ve made it several times and so have my sisters. Easy, moist, and I love that it uses a bit of whole grains and not crazy amounts of sugar. A keeper! Oh and I took the other reviewers idea and took it out around 40 min. Five stars.
 
LF November 13, 2016
I love using my iron skillet, so had to give this a try. I added a little vanilla, (1/4 teaspoon) and 1/2 cup of walnuts and 1/2 cup of raisins. Mine was done in 45 minutes, so don't know if the added ingredients made any difference. Yum!!