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This no yeast Peanut Butter Bread recipe from 1927 is a delicious alternative to banana bread. With stay-at-home order end dates still uncertain and a widespread dry yeast shortage, many are looking for bread recipes without yeast—myself included! Thankfully, this tasty Peanut Butter Bread recipe has no yeast. I’ve also adapted it to be a gluten-free bread by using almond flour, but have included directions on how to make it with all-purpose flour.

One of my favorite ways to spend time while social distancing is by baking treats for family and to drop off for friends. This no yeast bread recipe based on a 1920s peanut butter bread recipe is a delicious way to treat roommates or family to a bit of nostalgia. When topped with grape jelly or strawberry jam it tastes like the grown-up version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I originally shared this recipe in December 2019, but seeing as how many of us are coping with self isolation because of the coronavirus pandemic by baking, I’ve updated this post with more in-depth tips on how to bake peanut butter bread.

The vintage cookbook: Forgotten Recipes

This old-fashioned peanut butter bread recipe is from a vintage cookbook called Forgotten Recipes that I picked up at a flea market this summer. Published in 1981, it includes recipes from 1870 to 1949 that author Jaine Rodack compiled from old magazines. Rodack also included fun household hints from magazine readers from 1930. One clever mother made different colors of icing for cookies at her daughter’s request by letting jelly beans sit in a dish of water and mixing the colored water into the icing recipe.

I’ve been making more retro recipes since I started collecting vintage cookbooks this year. For Thanksgiving I made a retro cranberry sauce mold and it turned out great! I know people made some questionable things with gelatin back in the day—just Google “retro gelatin recipes” and be prepared to be a little grossed out—but the sauce I made was perfectly sweet and tart and paired nicely with our turkey (I followed this Fancy Cranberry Sauce recipe from Bon Appetit).

Of course, I had to get into character to make this peanut butter bread recipe from 1927! I took inspiration from the illustration of the woman on the cover and put my hair into a faux 1920s bob. The top I’m wearing is from a local vintage store. It’s a deadstock 1950s silk top by McMullen of Glen Falls, New York, and probably one of my favorite finds!

I love looking through old cookbooks because you get a sense of how people cooked and ate at home and even how the language of the time was different. You also get a sense of the basic cooking knowledge people were expected to have, since many of the recipes are short and not as detailed as they are today.

Maybe the best part is looking through all of the strange dishes people pulled together. One of the oddest recipes in Forgotten Recipes is a 1943 Baked Bean Sandwich from a magazine reader from Columbus, Ohio. A spread made of baked beans, chopped walnuts, chopped celery, minced onion, chopped pickle and ketchup was sandwiched between slices of buttered whole wheat bread. I don’t have anything against baked beans or buttered whole wheat bread, but I don’t think I’ll be trying them together.

Baking a peanut butter bread recipe from 1927

Once I regained my appetite after thinking about that baked bean sandwich, I decided to make one of the retro recipes from Forgotten Recipes. I landed on the 1927 Peanut Butter Bread, since I like anything related to the ‘20s and I had most of the ingredients on hand.

Peanut butter bread ingredients

• Flour — The original recipe did not specify what kind of flour to use. I used almond flour which made the bread very moist. You can use all-purpose flour instead, with the same measurements of 2 cups. (Read more on the adjustments I made below.)
• Baking powder — The original recipe calls for four teaspoons, but I only used three since I used almond flour instead of all-purpose.
• Salt
• Sugar — The recipe did not specify what kind of sugar to use. I used turbinado sugar, but you can use any kind of sugar.
• Peanut butter — I used creamy peanut butter but I think crunchy might work well, too! You could also sprinkle some chopped, salted peanuts on top of the bread before you pop it in the oven.
• Milk — The original recipe did not specify what kind of milk to use. I used whole milk, though I think any kind would work. The original recipe calls for 1½ cups, but if you make it with almond flour as I did, reduce the milk to ¾ cup since almond flour adds a lot of moisture to a recipe.

Interestingly, there are no eggs in this recipe! Therefore, you can easily make this into a vegan bread recipe by using a plant-based milk. Since I adjusted the recipe to be gluten-free with almond four, I added two eggs to use as a binder.

How to make peanut butter bread

As for directions, there are only four sentences in the original recipe directions. You sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together. Beat in the peanut butter, then the milk. Bake in a well-greased loaf pan at 350°F for one hour. That’s it!

I suggest checking your bread for doneness at the 50 minute mark since ovens can vary. The bread should be golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

I also suggest greasing the loaf pan and lining it with parchment paper. This will ensure your baked bread pops right out of pan when you turn it over on a plate.

Tools you need to make peanut butter bread

This old-fashioned bread recipe requires just a few basic tools! Here’s what you need:

• Loaf pan — I used a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
• Parchment paper — I greased the pan and also lined with parchment paper
• Sifter — You can use a strainer over a bowl to sift the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar together. I find a sifter easier and faster to use.
• Hand mixer — You could probably get by with using a whisk to mix the ingredients since there’s no butter in the recipe, but a hand mixer makes things easier.

Adjustments I made to the original recipe

Now, I could have made it as written, but in my home we eat mostly gluten free. I typically bake with almond flour and coconut flour instead of wheat flour. I did a quick search on low-carb bread recipes (including this gluten-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from Erin Lives Whole) to figure out how to adjust the ingredients. I’m not a baking expert by any means, so it was a learning experience! Here’s what I changed:

Flour: I used almond flour. Almond flour is higher in fat since it’s just ground nuts; therefore, it has more moisture than wheat flour, so bread made from almond flour won’t rise as much. Almond flour also requires eggs to act as a binder, or the bread will fall apart. I used a 1:1 ratio of 2 cups of flour.

Milk: I reduced the amount of milk from 1½ cups to ¾ cup since the batter was looking runny enough by that point and since almond flour has enough moisture on its own.

Peanut butter: Since I was running low on peanut butter I also used some almond butter flavored with cinnamon and honey.

Sugar: I thought the honey almond butter would add sweetness, so I lowered the amount of sugar to half of the ⅓ cup the original recipe calls for. More on the consequences of this later.

Baking powder: I used three teaspoons of baking powder instead of the four the original recipe calls for, based on other almond flour bread recipes.

Baking time: The original recipe had a 1 hour bake time, but the almond flour bread recipes I used for research listed baking time at 45-50 minutes, and my bread was done after 45 minutes. Your oven might be different.

Now came the moment of truth—the taste test. After letting the bread cool completely in the pan, I inverted it onto a platter and took a slice of that bad boy. It was good, but since I used only a little peanut butter and mostly almond butter, it didn’t have the strong peanut butter taste that was intended. A richer peanut butter taste would have been so much better.

Guapo tried a piece and thought it should have been sweeter. I would suggest adding the full amount of sugar (or sugar alternative) that’s called for in the original recipe.

What to serve with peanut butter bread

The original recipe suggests serving the peanut butter bread with orange marmalade or cheese. I’m not sure about the orange with the peanut flavor, but I guess that could be fine? I went with a pat of good ole’ unsalted butter and it was good. Then I tried it with a little grape jelly and it was great. I think it’d also be delicious with butter and jelly. Or cream cheese and jelly. Just make sure you have the jelly.

Adapted from “Forgotten Recipes” compiled and updated by Jaine Rodack.

Did you try this retro recipe? I’d love for you to share a photo of it on Instagram and tag me @thedapperdahlia!

Get more fun retro recipe ideas and vintage style and beauty tips by following The Dapper Dahlia on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

If you love all things 1920s like I do, get my tips on how to host a 1920s-themed dinner party.

This article has been updated. The original post was published on December 10, 2019.