Pumpkin Bread

That’s when I finally met the fall season. The spicy and sugary scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. I heard the high-pitched creaking sound of an opening door, and a warm breeze passed through my protective orb. With your hand over mine, I brought a cold metal utensil to my mouth and took a bite of autumn. It was soft and moist.

This recipe is matched with “Soul Mirrors”. Pumpkin bread is the first treat that the main character receives when she visits her Grandmother’s house. It is the perfect sweet to eat during the fall season. Through this recipe, I wanted to share the warmth and joy I get whenever I eat a bite of pumpkin bread. The recipe is based on Preppy Kitchen’s pumpkin bread recipe with a few modifications.

Recipe makes one 9x5 inch bread

Ingredients

Equipment

  • 9x5 inch loaf pan (greased with oil or butter)
  • Two mixing bowls (one large, one medium)
  • Whisk/electric mixer
  • Rubber spatula
  • Scale and/or measuring cups (I like to use a scale for dry ingredients and measuring cups for liquids)

Bread

  • 1 3/4 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour1
  • 1 tsp (4.8 grams) baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp (2.4 grams) baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground or grated nutmeg
  • Additional autumn spices2
  • 2 eggs at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup (61.3 grams) whole milk
  • 1 1/3 cups (~387 grams) pumpkin puree3
  • 1/2 cup (120 grams) vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat: preheat oven to 350°F
  2. Mix the dry ingredients: in a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Stir until ingredients are well distributed
  3. Mix the wet ingredients: in a medium mixing bowl, combine the sugar and oil. Mix until well combined. Add the eggs and mix until incorporated. Add in the milk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Whisk everything together until smooth
  4. Add wet to dry: pour the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl containing the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula until all traces of flour disappear4. The batter should be slightly runny and contain minimal clumps
  5. Final touches before baking: pour the batter into the greased loaf pan. Slide the pan gently back and forth to evenly distribute the dough
  6. Bake: bake the bread at 350°F between 1 hour and 1 hour 10 minutes5. It’s done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, and the bread has a slight spring when lightly pressed
  7. Cool: After you take out the bread, cool until slightly warm before flipping the bread onto a serving plate to eat. You can also directly serve from the loaf pan

Tips and Tricks

  1. If you want to make it gluten free, I recommend adding 140 grams of all-purpose gluten free flour and 70 grams of almond flour
  2. You can add your favorite fall spices here. I usually like to add 1/4 tsp of cardamom, 1/4 tsp of chinese 5 spice, and 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. You can also add 1/2 tsp of allspice
  3. Use 100% pumpkin puree. A 15 oz can contains a little less than 2 cups. I tried using the whole can before, and the bread still turned out great, so try it out if you don’t want to have leftovers. You can also make your own pumpkin puree, which isn’t too complicated. I would recommend this recipe
  4. Mix until just combined. You don’t want to overmix, especially if you are using regular flour since the gluten will start coagulating, which would make the bread less soft
  5. If you want the top of the bread to be less crusty/hard, then you can cover the loaf pan with an aluminum foil after being 40 minutes in the oven