Tag Archives: pumpkin bread

pumpkin bread with sourdough starter- mmmmm

Posted on by

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour (yesterday I used bread flour it was all I had)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup puréed pumpkin (15 oz)
  • 1 cup sourdough starter-( fed within the last week and you have to let it warm up from out of your refrigerator for at least two hours)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 3/4 cup or even 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/2 cup flaked coconut or raisins
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground mace
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions: Mix all wet ingredients except for sourdough starter.

Add spices. If you don’t like as many spices in a pumpkin bread as I do just decrease it. I am a cinnamon fiend I love cinnamon.

Stir in sourdough starter.

Stir in dry ingredients until just mixed. everything has to be incorporated so you’re just going to have to pay attention. I do this by hand not with a mixer.

Pour into a lightly greased Bundt pan and bake at 350° for approximately one hour. I use a metal skewer the skinny kind like you used to close the back of a turkey to test to see if the baking is complete. Toothpick or skewer should come out clean.

Cool in pan at least 25 minutes before removing from pan.

My final COVID-19 cooking note is if you can find canned pumpkin at a reasonable price by it because the prices attached to it now are absurd.

deluxe pumpkin bread

Posted on by

Let the madness begin! Almost time for Thanksgiving! This morning I made the cranberry orange relish and this afternoon, pumpkin bread.

I somehow managed to pinch a nerve in my neck/shoulder so it has been slowwww going.

Here is the recipe for the pumpkin bread:

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves, cardamon

3 eggs

2 cups canned pumpkin

1 cup canola oil

2/3 cup white sugar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar – I prefer light

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup diced dried apricots

1/2 cup dark raisins

1/4 cup minced candied ginger

In one mixing bowl combine all the dried ingredients

In a second mixing bowl combine all the wet ingredients with the sugars.

When the wet ingredients and sugars are mixed, stir in the dry ingredients. Then fold in the nuts and dried fruit and candied ginger.

Pour into two greased and floured 8″ x 4″ loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 50 to 55 minutes (or more- today my oven took 1 hour and 5 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

YUM!

with #blizzardpacolypse coming why not bake something?

Posted on by

I don’t know it must be something in our DNA that if you are a person termed a “nester” when you hear bad weather is coming you want to cook. And bake.

For some reason pumpkin bread popped into my head. I had one more can of pumpkin in the Lazy Susan and raisins and currants and candied ginger.  I did not have the nuts I like to use in pumpkin bread which are walnuts or pecans, but I did have roasted unsalted sunflower seeds.

So I took my basic pumpkin bread recipe and changed a little.

Enjoy the recipe.

 

Pumpkin Bread 2016
1 can of pumpkin 15 ounces and NOT pumpkin pie mix

3/4 cup of brown sugar 
1/2 cup white sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 scant teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground  green cardamom 

3 cups white flour

1/2 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds

1/2 cup unsweetened organic coconut flakes

1/2 cup currants

1/2 cup dark seedless raisins

3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger

Zest of one small orange or tangerine.

Granulated sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two loaf pans – the ones I use are vintage and about 8″ x 4″ approximately. I grease with either butter or canola oil.

In a big mixing bowl first blend together your pumpkin, sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla.

Next add the spices and salt and blend.

Next add the baking soda and baking powder and blend.

Incorporate the flour 1 cup at a time until blended.

Stir in the sunflower seeds, currants, raisins, ginger. Add the coconut- and it has to be unsweetened. Sweetened coconut would be too cloying in this recipe.

  
Dived the batter equally between the two pans. Dust the top of the batter with granulated sugar enough to cover top lightly.

Bake on the same shelf in the oven for about 55 minutes – I have had days where it took five minutes less and days were took 5 to 7 minutes more. So keep an eye on it.

When a toothpick comes out clean you’re done.

Cool loaves of pumpkin bread in their pans on a cooling rack for about 40 minutes. Then remove the loaves from the pans and allow to cool completely on the cooling rack for a couple of hours before slicing.

You can freeze these loaves as long as you wrap it well in saran wrap and a good freezer bag.

I have also substituted dried cranberries and white seedless raisins in this recipe.

  

growing up pumpkin bread

Posted on by



I love pumpkin bread, it is probably my favorite of the quick breads.  I wanted to do something different with it and have worked on a quick  bread recipe that was without nuts and raisins, but not boring. The other day I decided to make it with molasses and not just sugar. I think that made all the difference. I have a very moist quick bread that has some depth to it. Molasses is definitely something fun to experiment with.


New Pumpkin Bread Recipe
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup oil (canola of olive)
2 cups sugar ( can use all white or half white, half brown)
1 cup molasses at room temperature
4 eggs beaten in a small bowl
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon table salt 

Mix together with  mixer the following: pumpkin, oil, molasses, and sugar. Add eggs. Mix really well. Add vanilla mix a little more.

  1. Add remaining ingredients and mix just until all dry ingredients are well incorporated and there are no flour lumps.
  1. Pour into 2 well greased and floured 8 or 9 inch loaf pans. Use butter or oil or Crisco as the grease, not a baking spray.  Baking spray just doesn’t work as well as the traditional grease and flour for baking pans. Dust the batter in the top of the pans with sugar – either turbinado or plain white – it gives you a nice little crust.
  1. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean, and depending upon your oven it may take slightly longer than an hour to cook. I found they cooked perfectly in an hour.

When you remove the loves to cool on a rack let them sit in their pans for about 20 minutes to half an hour, then remove them from the pans and allow to cool completely. These loaves freeze nicely. 

* you can serve this pumpkin bread plain or for breakfast with  a little almond butter or whipped cream cheese or Greek Cream Cheese which has lower fat and calories.

pumpkin bread 2.0

Posted on by

IMG_2296.JPG

INGREDIENTS:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2/3 cup apple cider
2 cups white sugar
Scant 1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup mixed raisins light and dark
1/2 cup candied minced orange peel
1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
One cup chopped pecans or black walnuts (today I used walnuts because I used my pecans on hand in my pecan pumpkin pies)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°

Grease and flour three loaf pans. The ones I used I think are 8″x 4″ (I should measure them but I haven’t)

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, molasses, eggs, oil, cider, and sugar until well blended. Add the spices. Add baking soda, salt, baking powder. Stir the flour into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Fold in the raisins, coconut, nuts, candied orange peel.

Pour into the prepared pans. Make sure you split the batter evenly. Dust the top of the batter in each pan with a couple tablespoons of table sugar. It just gives a sort of sparkly crust when the loaves come out of the oven

Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven.

Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Let the pumpkin bread cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes to half an hour before removing from pans. Then leave loaves on a baking rack to completely cool before wrapping up until ready to serve. I make these a day ahead of serving.

the fall kitchen

Posted on by

applebutterWhat is cooking in your fall kitchen?  I have been asking people what they are cooking with and Chef Angela Carlino of Carlino’s in West Chester said to me “I love butternut squash, turnips and sweet potatoes.”

shrimp ricottaI am right there with her.  You can do so much with all of those.  I used fresh turnips from the East Goshen Farmers’ Market in a recent soup. And sweet potatoes I love whenever I can get them and they are versatile…like pumpkin is too.

pork tenderloinPumpkin and sweet potatoes aren’t just for desserts and can be in soups, in a main course becoming things like pumpkin and sweet potato gnocchi (with a brown butter sage sauce – yum!), and baked to perfection. And making butternut squash soup is another favorite of mine as well.  I have been working on reducing the calories in it by using plain Greek Yogurt and buttermilk instead of cream and crème fraiche.

Isoup have a cinnamon sweet bread recipe I have been tweaking and once I bake it and like it, will post the recipe.

I have not only made pickled beets, but a small batch of the most delicious apple butter ever.

Dinners have been rustic pasta dishes potatoes and mushroomswith homemade sauce and pasta.  I have been experimenting with pastas that have ricotta cheese and whole wheat flour in them with great success. And yes, my own recipes and I do have to write more down. The problem is I learned how to make pasta from feel. I know when the dough feels right…until that point it is a little of this, a dash of that.pasta

Dinners have also been marinated pork tenderloins roasted to perfection served with a mushroom, white wine, and apple reduction. Or traditional old-fashioned pot roasts and roasted chicken.  The roasted chickens have then become things like zesty chicken chili loaded with spice.

Pumpkin bread has returned and other fun things like sweet biscuits on weekend mornings.

I love to cook and every season offers you fun! What are you cooking?

hello pumpkin…bread

Posted on by

4Cold days are meant for baking, so today I whipped up a couple of loaves of my pumpkin bread – I had a container of Pacific Natural Foods Organic Pumpkin Puree left in the cupboard from Thanksgiving (it really IS the best pumpkin to cook with).

There is just something so homey about the smell of something wonderful baking in the oven, isn’t there? And by the way, one of my secret 3ingredients is Jayshree Spices’ Tea Masala spice blend.  It works well when making chai spiced tea, and you can bake with it too. I wanted something fun to accompany tonight’s dinner which is my hybrid cross between black bean and lentil soup and a spinach salad with a tangy apple cider-mustard vinaigrette salad dressing.  (And no, I have not written down my soup recipe it is a dash of this, a pinch of that, but I can tell you it is quasi pureed, made with tomatoes and my secret to its smokey fabulous flavor is good ham and minced orange peel.)

Anyway, I thought I thought I would share my recipe, which is a constant evolution. Pardon the haphazard way I list ingredients, but when something comes out of my head sometimes the whole codifying a recipe isn’t perfect…

Pumpkin Bread 1

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour two loaf pans and set aside.

1 15 or 16 oz container of pumpkin puree (I have seen both sizes – just pumpkin, no sugar or spice added)

3 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup milled bran (yes that again – love it in baked goods- makes chocolate chip cookies extra yummy too!)

1 cup Smart Balance oil

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups organic white sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2/3 cup of orange juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons buttermilk powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt (regular not sea salt)

3 tablespoons Jayshree Tea Masala Spice Blend

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon green cardamom

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon mace

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon allspice5

shredded coconut, quick oats, and turbinado sugar for dusting tops of batter in pans before it goes in the oven.

1. Mix pumpkin, eggs, oil, vanilla, orange juice, sugars, spices

2. Mix in all dry ingredients except milled bran.  Mix well.

3. Add bran.  Stir again

4. Pour batter into prepared pans and dust top with plain quick cooking oats, turbinado sugar, shredded coconut.

Bake at 350 for at least 60 minutes (my oven went 70 minutes on this recipe today).  If a wood or stainless steel small skewer comes out of center clean, pumpkin bread is baked.

Cool in pans on baking rack about 20 minutes.  Carefully remove loaves from pan and cool completely.  This bread does need to sit at least an hour after coming out of over before slicing. (just my opinion)

Enjoy!