Pumpkin Bread - Seasonal Recipe

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Pumpkin Bread

🌍 Seasonal, Autumn Difficulty: ●●●○○


Pumpkin bread is deeply American, evolved from colonial "pumpion" (pumpkin) bread made by early settlers learning from Indigenous peoples how to use the squash as a staple food when wheat flour was scarce.

Ingredients

  • 375g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
  • 1½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • 430g (1¾ cups) pumpkin purée (not pie filling)
  • 300g (1½ cups) sugar (or 200g sugar + 100g brown sugar)
  • 2 eggs
  • 120ml (½ cup) neutral oil (sunflower or vegetable)
  • 60ml (¼ cup) whole milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Optional mix-ins: 80g (½ cup) chopped walnuts or chocolate chips

Method

  1. Preheating — Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease and flour a 23×13cm (9×5 in) loaf pan.
  2. Whisking — Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl.
  3. Step 3 — In another bowl, whisk pumpkin, sugar, eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla until smooth.
  4. Pouring — Pour wet ingredients into dry; stir until just combined (lumps are fine; don't overmix). Fold in any mix-ins.
  5. Pouring — Pour into prepared pan. Bake 60–70 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  6. Cooling — Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out onto a wire rack. Cool completely before slicing.