The very first thing I can remember making on a regular basis--when I was right on the precipice of becoming an amateur gourmet---was pumpkin bread. It's a great recipe to start with if you're scared of the kitchen, if you don't have fancy equipment, if you want all the pleasures of baking without the hassle. It requires two bowls and a whisk. And loaf pans. That's all. And your apartment will smell like heaven.
I was looking for that recipe the other day, but then I opened my Gourmet cookbook and found this recipe for Pumpkin Apple Bread. If fall were bundled up and baked in a loaf, it would look (taste, and smell) like this:
I just tried to find the recipe on Epicurious because it's in the Gourmet cookbook, but it's not there. So I will do as I've been doing, lately, and type it out for your cooking pleasure. I am too good to you people.
I love all the spices in here though some people don't. Like my mom, for example. She once tasted my chai tea and said: "Blech! There's cloves in there! I hate cloves!"
So if you are anti-Autumnal, like my mom, you may want to stay away---but you fall lovers, step up. This is the bread for you.
For topping:
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
5 Tbs sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
For bread:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1 (15-oz) can solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (2 cups)
MAKE THE TOPPING: Blend together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal.
MAKE THE BREAD: Put a rack in the middle of oven and preheat oven to 350F. Butter two 9 X 5 inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice into a medium bowl.
Whisk together pumpkin...
[Note on my pumpkin! This was the only pumpkin I could find in either Whole Foods or Gristede's. I'm not convinced it's solid packed. But the end result was still ok. END NOTE.]
...oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl. Add flour mixture, stirring until well combined. Fold in apples
Divide batter between buttered loaf pans. Sprinkle half of topping evenly over each loaf.
Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of bread comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.
Cool loves in pans on a rack for 45 minutes, then turn out onto rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.
I stupidly made this very late at night (as I am wont to do) and couldn't resist a piece at 2 am, when it cooled. This was a bad idea. There is so much sugar in here, I was up for hours.
But my my my, did my apartment smell great. And did this taste great. As a testament to how great it tastes, I dropped half the bread on the floor just now and I'm still going to eat it. Ya, you can judge me, but whatever. I like this bread. Deal with it.
27 Comments
The label looks suspiciously like pie filling instead of pumpkin puree (solid-pack). The color in your photo isn't conclusive but the apparent creaminess also suggests pie filling. The ingredients on the can would indicate which. That could account for it being very sweet and very spicy. But it sounds like you were very happy with it in any case.
I like the beautiful crowning you got on your baked loaves.
Posted by rainey | October 17, 2005 9:38 AM
Just made the same recipe last week. It really is quite good.
Good one for the kids!
Posted by meg | October 17, 2005 10:34 AM
I'm playing hooky from work today and was trying to figure out what to do w/half of a 32 oz. can of pumpkin I had in my fridge. Then I did my usual round of morning blog reading and you gave me the answer. it's in the oven right now and smells INCREDIBLE. Thanks for the idea:)
Posted by Beth Dudley | October 17, 2005 11:09 AM
Hey! There must be something in the air... I think there were a whole lot of amateur gourmets out there making pumpkin bread this weekend, including me!
Posted by Aimee | October 17, 2005 2:02 PM
Ahaha! I made chocolate-chip pumpkin bread a few weeks ago, but it turned out horrible because the fire alarm went off and everybody in the dorms were evacuated for four hours... I tried salvaging it but the chocolate burned and the inside was still raw. *weep* Your loaf looks mouthwateringly good, though.
Posted by Nina | October 17, 2005 3:36 PM
I read your posting first thing this morning, and have had pumpkin bread on my mind all day.
I'm not a late eater, but after dinner, I couldn't resist throwing this together, much to my husband's glee. It's cooking now, and smelling wonderful- unfortunately, I just noticed the part about the almost 2 hour cooling time!!
I think that one loaf may just have to suffer a bit, for the good of hearth and home and such.
Posted by s'kat | October 17, 2005 9:19 PM
Thanks for the suggestion and the recipe! I made this bread this morning and subbed cardamom for the cloves and applesauce for the apples. It is seriously one of the best pumpkin-type products I have ever put in my mouth.
Posted by Jodi | October 18, 2005 11:41 PM
I made this upon your recommendation, and the persistent nagging of my stomach for foods steeped in fall. Delicious! And, now I have one less recipe to audition in my Gourmet cookbook.
Posted by deb | October 20, 2005 1:21 PM
Two loaves of this is baking in the oven right now. I added apple butter and less oil and sugar. I have a big jar of apple butter that I need to get rid of. I hope it turns out yummy. We'll see. One thing's for sure, it smells SO YUMMY!!! P.S. It's about 10:30pm. It probably won't be completely cooled until past midnight. ek!
Posted by Kristina | October 20, 2005 11:33 PM
Hi Adam,
Its difficult to get pumpkin in a can here in Malaysia. Can I use fresh pumpkin instead? Boiled, pureed and packed in 15oz can?
Posted by Iza | October 21, 2005 12:19 AM
Hi Adam,
I read your recipe a few days ago and it really made me mouthwater! So, today I bought a pumpkin (which I'm going to cook and puree) and I'm soon going to try it out...
I'm sure it's going to turn out fine; I already taste that bread in my mind!
Posted by Rosa | October 22, 2005 8:51 PM
Hi Adam,
I just wanted to let you know that this bread turned out deliciously well, yummy! Thanks for sharing this recipe...
Posted by Rosa | October 25, 2005 6:46 AM
This bread was a hit among my friends last weekend! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Posted by yoko | October 26, 2005 9:12 AM
I saw this recipe a few days ago and attempted to find it today, only to find it scrolled off the front page. I wanted to search for it, but alas, no search box. I finally found this by navigating back through the archives, but I would highly recommend including a search box right on top so that we can easily find these amazing recipes.
Thanks again for this!
Posted by Nicole Lee | October 27, 2005 2:06 PM
Yum, this is easy to make and sooo good!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbaugher/60101585/
Posted by Josh | November 14, 2005 11:26 PM
Would I ned to change anything to add nuts and which nuts do you suggest?
Jeanne
Posted by Jeanne | September 23, 2006 1:05 PM
I made this recipe 4 times in 2 months
I love it
I doubled the recipe and put it in a a bundt pan with maple frosting drizzeled on it YUM I also leave the peel on the apples
Thanks so much
Posted by Jeanne | November 12, 2006 10:31 PM
Yummo! as Rachel would say!! So very good and easy to make, the hardest part is waiting the alloted time to cool and then eat! But, so good! A friend at work made this the other day and it was gone before we knew it! It was universally loved! The texture, color and smell are mouthwatering and apreciated by one and all. Well done! Thanks for the recipe...
Posted by Alice | October 6, 2007 5:22 PM
OMG ! Just finished making this pumpkin bread and it is DELECTIBLE ! Very easy to make too....got home from work at 6:15 and it was in the oven before 7:00. The bigget challenge was waiting for it to cook and cool. Made two loafs as per recipe....then cut recipe in half and made one more. Came out perfectly.
Thank !
Posted by Cat | November 20, 2007 7:14 PM
This is without a doubt THE BEST Pumpkin Bread I have ever tried!!! The longer it sits the better it tastes. It's just so hard to wait, that I have made 2 loaves a week since I found you 3 weeks ago. It will also be given as gifts to all I care about. Thank you.
Posted by Patty | December 6, 2007 11:26 AM
This is possibly my favorite recipe EVER! I've made numerous variations, and it's a very forgiving recipe.
My favorite "every day" variation is to substitute whole wheat flour for all the white flour, cut wa-ay back on the sugar (like, less than half, sometimes brown instead of white), use a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar instead of the rich topping, & maybe add some chopped nuts. If I have it, I also use applesauce for part of the oil. Then pour the batter into 2 well greased 12-cup muffin pans and bake for around 20 minutes. Makes a perfect breakfast, & freezes great!
Posted by Jessica | July 12, 2008 10:12 PM
Iza,
I live in Prague and have yet to see canned pumpkin here. In fact, the first time I DID see any pumpkin, it had been candied by a friend's father. Apparently, they feed it to their pigs here. *sigh*
So, I buy a pumpkin whenever I see one.
Cut it up. Save the seeds for roasting and scrape out the pulp.
Put the pumpkin in a deepish pan with some water in the bottom and roast until the skin is tender.
Then let it cool. Scrape the meat into a blender (or whatever you can use to puree it) and zap it.
You'll need to drain the liquid repeatedly. And the liquid is pretty tasty anyhow on its own.
Good luck and happy pumpkin hunting, Iza!
(Adam, just made these and am waiting for them to cool...waiting...waiting........
Posted by Jane | September 27, 2008 1:44 PM
Iza,
I live in Prague and have yet to see canned pumpkin here. In fact, the first time I DID see any pumpkin, it had been candied by a friend's father. Apparently, they feed it to their pigs here. *sigh*
So, I buy a pumpkin whenever I see one.
Cut it up. Save the seeds for roasting and scrape out the pulp.
Put the pumpkin in a deepish pan with some water in the bottom and roast until the skin is tender.
Then let it cool. Scrape the meat into a blender (or whatever you can use to puree it) and zap it.
You'll need to drain the liquid repeatedly. And the liquid is pretty tasty anyhow on its own.
Good luck and happy pumpkin hunting, Iza!
(Adam, just made these and am waiting for them to cool...waiting...waiting........
Posted by Jane | September 27, 2008 1:44 PM
Sorry bout that double post.
Tasty tasty tasty. The apple just melted into the dough creating a remarkably moist bread.
Delightful.
Thank you, Adam!
Posted by Jane | September 28, 2008 4:24 AM
Oh man! I got this recipe a couple years ago from a friend of mine and copied it into my little recipe book which, due to the summer heat here in Florida and the electric bills, has had the chance to get lost since the last time I made something. But today I was particularly craving pumpkin bread, and lo and behold, google search led me here! What a fabulous find! I don't know about anyone else, but I like to add a lot more cinnamon to this bread, going by the color of the dry mix more than measurements.
This is definitely my favorite fruit bread recipe, and I am thrilled to have found it here rather than continue searching for my little book before I can bake anything. Thank you so much for typing it up! I look forward to reading through the rest of your blog. ^^
Posted by Laura | October 16, 2008 6:35 PM
Yum. This came out even better than I expected. Perfect with a cup of tea.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Posted by Sofia | October 19, 2008 5:20 PM
Thanks for copying out this recipe. I made it last year around this time from my Gourmet cookbook and wanted to make it but said cookbook is in a different city right now. So, like you, when I was looking for it online I couldn't find it. Amateur Gourmet to the rescue!
Posted by Robin | November 4, 2008 10:35 AM