Pumpkin..

bread.

Can I just say that this is one of the absolute best quick bread recipes I've ever made?  It makes two loaves and I guarantee they won't last longer than a couple of days.

The recipe I use is this Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread.

First things first...

Yes, I made my own pumpkin puree.

Yes, I buy organic sugar pie pumpkins from Whole Foods and cook them.

Yes, I measure out 15 ounces of pumpkin on my kitchen scale and freeze them in Tupperware.

Yes, I know most of you think I'm crazy :)

If you want to join me in the land of crazy, here is a great tutorial on how to cook pumpkin for puree, if not just buy a can of pumpkin.

15 oz pumpkin puree

So away we go, prepare your pans and make sure your pumpkin is defrosted or just open your can.

I greased and floured 2 5*9 inch pans.  The recipe specs 3 7*3 inch pans, but I don't own any that size.

I still grease the pans the old fashioned way by rubbing shortening all over them, then throwing in some flour and knocking it around.  If you use that new fangled cooking spray/flour combo thing, let me know how it works out.

Prepared pans

Next up is the wet ingredients, just dump them in and mix it up.

Wet ingredients ready to be mixed

Ready for the dry ingredients

Next I measure out the dry ingredients. There are a couple of changes to the seasoning mix I've made to the bread to suit our taste.  I add a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon and reduce to cloves to 1/8 tsp.

dry ingredients

If you wanted to you could easily substitute whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour, it would add more fiber but the texture of the bread would change.  Probably not enough for your kids to notice though, husbands - yes.  I usually do half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour.

ready for the pans

Once the dry ingredients are incorporated pour into pans and bake away.  My loaves take about 60 minutes, be sure to check the center with a tooth pick to make sure they are done.

wow, my workspace doesn't look too messy today

Mmmm, here is the bread, looking perfectly delicious.  Let the bread cool in the pans for about 10 minutes.  Then run a knife around the edge, tip them over and pop the bread out.  Let it cool off on a rack for at least another hour.  It can be really hard to wait for the bread to cool, but if you try and cut it too soon it just falls apart.

Ready to come out of the pans

I know this from personal experience :)

Yum!

Enjoy!