Pumpkin Bread

First of all, it's decorative gourd season, motherfuckers.*

Pumpkin flavours are back for a short time only. Thankfully, although most stores only stock pumpkin puree in the fall months, cans of the stuff last through the apocalypse, so now's the time to stock up if you want pumpkin flavoured bakes year round. I for my part have stocked up until 2020.

Pumpkin Bread

This recipe has been taken from a CIA cookbook.** I first made it for a potluck BBQ in 2008. It was on the table for about 20 minutes before two guys stole it and ate the rest while hiding in the back of a van.*** Today I am making it for a similar occasion, which I will not be attending.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves, or your best approximation

1 cup canned pumpkin puree, comes out to one 425g can, so save yourself the assache of emptying a can into a measuring cup and then into the bowl.

3/4 cups sugar, granulated or caster is fine

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil, nothing fancy here

Instructions:

Preheat an oven to 200˚

Grease and flour a pan.

It doesn't really matter if it's a loaf pan or a square pan, or hell go crazy and make a circle. This recipe will make one nice 10 x 10 cake, or 2 small loaves. Whatever pan you've got that fits the amount of batter, just go for it.

Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and set aside.

This is a bit of leg work, but it is easier to do at the beginning. You don't have to mix them together, as long as they're sifted into the same bowl it will make your life easier.

Blend together the pumpkin puree, sugar, eggs and oil until blended and silky.

I used the flat beater of my kitchenaid (yes, I have a kitchenaid, I'm that smug bastard) because it is the most versatile beater, but a handheld mixer will do.

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, and mix until combined.

This is where I'm glad I started with the flat beater and don't have to wash two attachments.

Steps 3-5 pictured below:

The first picture contains the unmixed wet ingredients as well, and also apparently my feet.

Bake until the cakes pass the clean knife test.

Baking time will vary depending on the size of the pan. For reference, the 10 x 10 cake I have in the oven now will probably need about 50-60 minutes, so this is a long cooker.

When the top of the bread appears cooked, cover it loosely in foil to prevent it from burning.

This is what my finished cake looked like:

As you can see it looks like part of a dried up dinosaur turd. I really don't care.

I am going to cool it in the pan and freeze it until needed.

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*https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its-decorative-gourd-season-motherfuckers

**This becomes a lot less cool when you learn that CIA stands for Culinary Institute of America and not Central Intelligence Agency.

***There's reason to believe they were high.