Pumpkin Bread

We had been getting a lot of different winter squash and pumpkins from our CSA recently.

I decided to use the red Kuri to make this pumpkin bread from simplyrecipes.com. I added a bit more spice to it, and that was good – I feel I could have added even more, maybe doubling the amount of cinnamon would be good. I also used brown sugar, to give a richer taste.

As most loafs, this is simple to make, but if you do use fresh pumpkin it does take a while and add some work with cutting out the flesh and pureeing. You can easily use canned pumpkin puree if you don’t have a fresh. Start at step 6 if you have puree already.

Ingredients (original recipe on simplyrecipes.com):

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (200 g)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger (dried)
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1 cup brown sugar (200 g)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (240 ml) or one pumpkin
• 1/2 cup olive oil (120 ml)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (120 ml)

Method:

1. Prick pumpkin through the skin all over and place in a baking dish

2. Bake for 1-2 hours at 375 F, until very soft

3. Cut open and scrape out the seeds.

4. Take out the flesh with a spoon, or cut off the skin. I found the latter easiest. Puree the flesh.

5. Reserve 1 cup of puree for the cake and freeze the rest, or use soon for something else. I got several cups from 1 medium sized squash.

6. Preheat oven to 350 F / 180 C and grease a loaf pan.

7. Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, spices and sugar.

8. Mix together the pumpkin puree, oil and eggs.

9. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, but do not over mix.

10. Mix the nuts into the batter.

11. Pour into the prepared tin, and bake for 50-65 minutes.

12. Take out and cool on a rack, removing from tin after 5 minutes to cool completely.

So very yummy! I usually don’t like cakes using oil as much as ones with butter, I think they sometimes feels a little more greasy, but this worked. It was a moist and delicious loaf. I think I will add more cinnamon next time, though.