It’s fall, which can mean only one thing. The army of the basic have a fever that cannot be simply cured through more cowbell. The confluence of chilly weather and changing leaves causes the inexplicable desire for the basic to consume all things pumpkin related. At first, I figured to resist such a trend. I’m too tired of hearing about your pumpkin spice lattés, pumpkin spice schnapps and even pumpkin spice Four Lokos. (Unfortunately, if you were craving a fall flavored blackout, you’ll be disappointed – that was just a hoax). Instagrams, Facebook newsfeed posts and tweets about how #seasonal you are are quite literally ruining the best season of the year.
At the grave personal risk of sounding like a hipster, pumpkin-related food always was a staple at my house growing up. To me, it signaled an end to the undeniably miserable Texas summers of 100° weather and a wonderful progression into the downright blissful 70° fall days (it’s all relative, I know.) An absolute gem of a recipe for pumpkin bread my mother found at a church bake sale turned out to contain the recipe for what I believe is the best pumpkin bread ever made. While I may be biased because of the nostalgia I have with this recipe and growing up, it really is a damn good one. Give it a try and see if it makes the pumpkin overload found today seem just a bit more bearable.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Photo by Amanda Shulman
Ingredients:
3 cup sugar
3 ½ cup flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
½ cup + 2 tablespoons water
1 can organic pumpkin
3 8.5″ x 4.5″ loaf pans
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients in a large bowl into an even consistency.
3. Mix all your liquid ingredients (oil, eggs, water, pumpkin) together in a separate bowl .
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the combined liquid ingredients into the well. Mix until smooth (it’s going to be a thick consistency).
5. Lightly grease and flour your pans to have a thin coating inside to prevent sticking during the baking.
6. Pour the mixture in each pan and bake for 1 hour, making sure to start checking on it at about the 45 minute mark to see that it’s not overcooking.
7. Remove the loaves and let them cool on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes.
8. Fight the urge to pair with a pumpkin related beverage. (But if you just literally can’t even, we’ve got you covered).