It’s not fall without pumpkins. I myself am not hugely into pumpkin, I like it, but not too much. I prefer pumpkin when it’s well mixed with other flavors, like lots of cinnamon and ginger, and I enjoyed the double chocolate pumpkin (aka Jessie Steele apron cupcakes) cupcakes I made last fall. But I know that it just is not fall without pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread, and so here we are.

Even I, a non-pumpkin fan, readily admit this is some awesome bread. I love the spices in it. Very fall and very delicious. It got two thumbs up from everyone who tasted ate two helpings of it. This bread would be perfect for Thanksgiving. It’s adapted from a recipe from Bon Appétit, which I got courtesy of the book I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci. I omitted the cloves- I’m not a fan.

For some reason, my breads never turn out aesthetically perfect, but that doesn’t affect the taste any. I also don’t know why pumpkin bread makes me want to talk like a pilgrim, or as they did in days of yore, but it does.

PUMPKIN BREAD

Gather ye the following materials:

• ½ cup unsalted butter (one stick)
• 1 ½ cups self-rising flour (or, since I never have self-rising in the house, do what I did and use 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour + 1 ½ tsps baking powder + ½ tsp salt)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ cup walnuts, chopped

Then doeth this with ye materials:

1. Preheat oven to 350° degrees.
2. Butter and flour a 9-inch loaf pan. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until blended, then add eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour with spices in another bowl, add to pumpkin mixture, mix in walnuts and pour batter into pan.
3. Bake until tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, then release the edges with a knife and turn bread out onto rack to cool completely.
4. Serve with a pat of butter or plain.

   

I doubled the recipe and made two loaves and it worked out just fine. And like I said, I never have self-rising flour in the house, so I use an old cheat and use all-purpose flour with some baking powder and salt. I’ve never had a problem using this method, so I suggest if you don’t have self-rising either, you don’t sweat it and just do what I do. By all means if you have self-rising flour on hand, use it, Miss (or Mister) Perfect-y Perfect.

This is an awesome bread. My dad ate practically an entire loaf for breakfast. Like I said, it’d be great for Thanksgiving morning, or even to make to have with Thanksgiving dinner. It’s sweet but not too sweet like cake, and it’s equally great plain, with butter, warm or room temperature.

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