Pumpkin Bread

I baked my very old recipe for pumpkin bread this weekend. I love this very spicy recipe and like to add more cinnamon than called for as I always do with that spice. It is a very moist pumpkin bread and also very fragrant. You can see how easy it is to make as well. You basically measure and dump everything together and mix.

The batter is cake-like and easily ladled into whatever baking dish or mold you choose. I love to make these in the NordicWare mini-rose bundt pans. This recipe makes 15 roses when filled only 2/3 full. Each rose is a one-cup mold so that gives you an idea of the yield. I haven’t made it in the small loaf pans for quite a while but if I remember it makes at least 3 or 4 small loaf pans.

NordicWare makes many wonderful forms so the sky is the limit. I love these wonderful heavy pans and the baked goods are so easy to get out. No worry at all. I just give a quick spray with Pam and they fall right out.

Hope you might think about trying this recipe when you want a nice, moist, spicy treat.

http://zolablue.smugmug.com/gallery/3442287#193165324

3 cups sugar

1 cup oil

4 large eggs

2/3 cup water

2 cups pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cloves

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside

Cream sugar and oil together. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, pumpkin, water, and dry ingredients. Mix together until just combined.

Grease pans well. Fill pans, cans or molds 2/3 full.

Bake 50 – 60 minutes if using loaf pans or 25 – 30 minutes for the rose mold or similar mini-bundt pan size. Bake until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake.

This is my Hubbard Sunflower Sourdough Boule it is an adaptation of Nancy Silverton's Pumpkin Bread in Bread from LaBrea Bakery.

The taste is wonderful. It has a bit of Cumin in it and raw sunflower seeds of course -and I used my last Hubbard taken up from the root cellar from last summer -under the right conditions those beauties last forever!

I am extremely happy with the shape (been working hard on that) and I think that my slashing is getting better (thanks Sourdoug-guy!). I used the LaCloche top on a baking stone for the first 20 minutes for this one - and then another 15 without, crust is great! That technique is really working for me. (I am sorry I foget who explained that one to me but you know who you are - thank you!)

Any suggestions on why the Crumb tuned out this this? This is maybe about the 5th or 6th sourdough I've baked from my 3 month old starter. I really love the taste, and at least in the kinds of breads I have been baking so far, the more rustic, country sourdough breads - I like a bit of a heavier crumb, and moist. I haven't got up the nerve to try Ciabatta, bagette, etc yet - so we will see what happens when I go there. BUT - for this beautiful delicious bread, I don't know why the crumb did this? About half way through it started to show some of these odd shaped large holes here and there.

What is the cause of that?