Density versus fluffiness of pumpkin bread

[jaybee65]

I made my very first ever attempt at baking something last night: pumpkin walnut bread. In the process, I discovered many things: Flour is messy! Walnuts work better in bread when you remember to crush them, rather than dumping them into the mix whole! Drinking alcohol as you struggle to measure ingredients precisely is probably not a good idea, but *does* make it less aggravating!

I followed the recipe (found online here) as carefully as I could, and the bread turned out pretty well for a first attempt. However, the texture is a lot fluffier and less dense than I was expecting -- it's rather cake-like, in fact. Is this likely to be due to the kind of flour I used? (The recipe called for All-Purpose flour.) Is there another type of flour that might produce something denser? Or is it something other than the flour that influences this? Any suggestions gratefully received!

Comments

[melannen]

I have been told - and note, I'm a denizen of this community, so I'm not actually good at this - that *when* you add the baking soda to the batter can have an effect on how fluffy the end result is, especially if you're slow with the mixing and measuring so it ends up sitting awhile. So if you didn't add the baking soda as the very last thing, maybe try that? (Adding it last gives it less time to react.)

If you think that maybe the recipe just makes for a fluffier bread than you'd prefer, then you can just reduce the amount of baking soda, too; but you'd have to either guess, or base it on a recipe you've made before that does come out to the right density.

[jaybee65]

So many variables to consider! But that's kind of fun. I can fool around with one recipe and learn a fair amount just with that.