Pumpkin Bread

November 17th is Homemade Bread Day. I absolutely love bread...white, wheat, sourdough, french and of course quick breads like banana bread and apple bread. In recognition of homemade bread day I decided to make pumpkin bread. This was my first time making pumpkin bread and I have definitely found a keeper. If I could take the essence of fall, pour it in a pan and make a bread out of it...this is what it would taste like. This was such a good recipe. I made a couple of changes to the original. My changes are in parentheses.

Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans(I used pecans)
* 1/2 cup raisins(I omitted the raisins)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger(I used 1/4 teaspoon)
* 3 large eggs
* 1 3/4 cups Mashed Pumpkin
* 3/4 cup vegetable oil(I used 3/8 cup oil & 3/8 cup natural applesauce)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350° (325° convection).

2. In a large bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, nuts, raisins, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, cloves, allspice, and ginger until well blended.

3. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, Mashed Pumpkin, and oil until well blended.

4. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and stir just until well blended. Pour equally into two oiled 8 1/2- by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans (with 2 2/3-cup capacity each).

5. Bake until bread pulls from pan sides and a wooden skewer inserted in center of thickest part comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Let bread cool in pans on a rack for about 15 minutes. Cut around outside edges of bread and invert onto racks. Cool thoroughly.

Original recipe courtesy of  Sunset Magazine, October 2005