Thursday, September 14, 2006

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread, left (with zucchini bread and a coconut doughnut).

This lovely recipe for pumpkin bread is slightly adapted from Elise's at Simply Recipes. It's very moist and lightly spiced -- a nice option for widely divergent palates. Kian and Sadie especially liked it.

Note that the oil used is not one usually used in quick breads: olive oil.

Pumpkin Bread
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup canned pumpkin purée
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F and grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Stir together flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, until just combined. If using walnuts, gently fold in. Pour mixture into loaf pan and bake 50-60 minutes until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack. Makes one loaf.

Grade: A-


Don't forget to suggest a theme for Retro Recipe Challenge #3!


6 comments:

Rachel said...

Looks good! I've never cooked with pumpkin before

Anonymous said...

On this cool, cloudy, fall-like day, I can't imagine a better treat to enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Oh pumpkin bread. I can't wait to start all my pumpkin stuff...I did burn my pumpkin candle yesterday though :)
The bread looks yummy by the way.

Lis said...

Love pumpkin bread and muffins and cake and tarts and mousse and ice cream and yeah.. pretty much anything pumpkin ;)

Here's a lil question for you.. I've got a jar of pumpkin butter and I want to bake with it.. what would you suggest?

Anonymous said...

Fantastic Recipe! I made it yesterday afternoon. We have nut allergies around here, so I replaced the walnuts with raisins. It takes about a cup of raisins for the size of the batch. Very good. Moist and tasty!

Laura Rebecca said...

Rachel & Ivonne -- thanks! (It's been cold and rainy here too.)

Hmmm, Lis... well, pumpkin butter sort of tastes like pumpkin pie. What if you recreated pumpkin pie in a cookie? The cookie dough would form the crust and the pumpkin cookie dough as your thumbprint base, and top that with the pumpkin butter.

I haven't baked with pumpkin butter, though, so I'm wondering if it will hold up in the oven. You might try pressing the cookie dough (maybe even pie dough) into mini muffin tins for a tart shell, baking, and then fill with pumpkin butter after they've cooled.

Let me know what you come up with! I would never have thought to cook with pumpkin butter, but I think you've got a great idea.

Peabody, I have to buy a pumpkin candle. I love that spicy smell with which they fill the house!

Meredith, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Adding raisins sounds like a great idea! (Chocolate chips would be good too, I bet.)