Pumpkin Bread

Close on the heels of my pumpkin soup recipe, I wanted to use up the rest of my roasted pie pumpkin.  But since I've eaten pumpkin pie about 5 times in the past 2 weeks, and I will have to eat it another half dozen times in the next 2 weeks, I figured I'd try something slightly different - pumpkin bread.  This is a quick bread following the 'muffin method', by which I mean dumping a bunch of dry ingredients into a wet ingredient bowl to form a batter, activating a leavening agent (baking soda) which will help the bread rise in the absence of yeast.

A quick search online found a very popular recipe, which I upgraded by replacing canned pumpkin with actual roasted pumpkin.  I also made a half recipe into a single loaf for what should have made 1.5 loaves, because I like my muffin-breads a bit taller.  I did not exercise my time-tested tip of replacing half of the oil with applesauce like I do for my banana bread, but I know it will work with minimal impact to the flavor.  With that, I give you...

The finished pumpkin bread

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

• 1/2 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree, or 8 ounces roasted pie pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (trick: you can substitute half of this for applesauce!)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1-1/2 cups white sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 7x3 inch loaf pan - rub butter all over the inside with a paper towel, then put in about 2 tbsp of flour and rotate it all around by shaking the pan, including up the sides, until it's thoroughly coated.

The greased and floured loaf pan

In the larger of two bowls, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil (or oil/applesauce mix), water and sugar until well blended.  In a separate smaller bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.  Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended - don't overstir this, or you will get tough, poorly risen bread!  Pour into the prepared pan(s), and shape gently to get the mixture to be roughly flat in the pan.

Roasted pumpkin!  So much better than the canned stuff

Ah, the muffin method - my old friend.  Make sure you have extra room in the liquid bowl, since that's where it all ends up.  Always add the dry to the wet.

Give it a few shakes.  Don't smack it on the table - it didn't do anything to you

Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven.  The loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Be sure you test in the center, because that's where the bread will be the least cooked, and you are liable to end up with a slightly underdone core otherwise.

Here's a final step you should keep in mind - the cooling process.  You want the loaf to cool down enough to shrink away from the edges of the pan, but not so much that it steams itself soggy.  So give the loaf 30 minutes in the pan to cool slightly, then turn it out onto a cooling rack and let it cool the rest of the way.  Mine got a little depressed-looking when I passed out on the couch after removing it from the oven, so you'll have to use your imagination about what the FINAL pumpkin bread actually looks like.  But I assure you, the flavor was spectacular, and the pumpkin taste was festive without being overly pie-like.  Sorry, pie lovers.