Harvest pumpkin bread is one of those great sweet bread recipes that both adds squash to your diet and has the classic fall flavors that I love so much. I love to grow pumpkins in my garden. The patch is a joy to look at through the growing season and then I have these great fall decorations for my porch. We always make sure we plant some jack-o-lantern pumpkins for the kids and the seeds but my favorite pumpkin for canning is the sugar pumpkin. Those tiny orange balls of pumpkin goodness make amazing baked goods. We make pies, muffins, waffles, cookies, and bread with them.
This recipe calls for canned pumpkin but I have used canned butternut and acorn squash as well with good results.
Ingredients:
1 quart drained canned pumpkin (about 2 cups)
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
I begin by adding all of my wet ingredients together: the pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, and sugar. As I stir these, I make sure I squish up the pumpkin and mix in the egg well. You can do these before adding them but it isn't necessary.
I then add the rest of the ingredients to the top. I try to distribute the spices evenly to make stirring them in easier. I begin by doing a shallow stir to mix just the dry ingredients.
You could use a separate bowl for the dry ingredients and then combine them but this works well for me. Then I gradually stir deeper into the wet ingredients until it is all well mixed together.
To prepare my loaf pans I coat them with shortening or coconut oil but a nonstick baking spray should work as well. I then coat the pan with a layer of granulated sugar to decrease the amount the bread sticks to the pan.
This recipe will make 2 loaves of bread. I pour equal amounts in each pan (about half full). I then bake the bread at 350 degrees for 30-60 minutes. I tap the top to check if there is spring back to see if it is done.
This bread tastes great hot from the oven with butter on it but my family will even eat it cool without any addition. It is just a great flavor and a great way to use up your canned pumpkin.
