Fresh Pumpkin Bread

fresh pumpkin bread recipe / a thousand threads
The first time I ever cooked with fresh pumpkin was a disaster. Mark and I had just started dating, and I really wanted to impress him. So since his birthday was coming up on Halloween (hello pumpkin) and cheesecake is his favorite, I decided I’d make him the best pumpkin cheesecake he’d ever had…

I wasn’t cocky at all.

So I ran to the local Whole Foods and dropped an entire meal’s worth of money on a fat pumpkin to cook down into my own puree… because why would I do this the easy way? Everything was better from scratch.

Hours (a whole day?) later, the pumpkin cooked down, the cheesecake set up, and I couldn’t wait for him to see what I’d done. When he came over to celebrate, I practically met him at the door with a slice.

This thing was going to be good, I was certain.

… and I think he was too.

Then he took a bite.

fresh pumpkin bread recipe / a thousand threads
All I have to say is, he was so nice… he smiled and complemented me. And when he did, I sat there, smug and satisfied… raising my own fork to my mouth, already knowing how great it was going to be…

Or not.

I’d spent hours… baking, chopping, and pureeing that pumpkin. Making the cheesecake just right. It was so pretty… just the prettiest little pumpkin cheesecake you ever did see.

And it tasted like dirt.

Turns out, not all pumpkins are created equal… and while my pumpkin might have been small-ish, it was no pie pumpkin.

It would have been a beautiful jack-o-lantern.

Unfortunately, it was a disgusting puree. A smarter baker might have tasted it before she baked it into a cake and ruined the whole lot. But I’d just created a masterpiece… how could anything possibly go wrong?

fresh pumpkin bread recipe / a thousand threads
Needless to say, I was a little more careful about this particular recipe.

More careful, and more nervous.

But whereas that cheesecake eventually found its way to the trash… this little loaf of pumpkin bread barely lasted a day.

And since then we’ve made two more.

This guy is good. And it’s good because it’s chock full of fresh pumpkin.

The good news is that for this recipe you don’t need a purée. Just 3 cups of grated fresh pumpkin (from one of those tiny pie pumpkins at the grocery store, no dirty jack-o-lanterns on the sidewalk outside), and 3 cups piles up a whole lot faster than you’d think.

So don’t let my horror stories scare you… fresh and from scratch really is always better, you just have to know what you’re doing. Which clearly, in this case (and many cases in my life) I didn’t.

fresh pumpkin bread recipe / a thousand threads
Fresh Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from this recipe by Alton Brown

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups shredded fresh pumpkin
1 cup toasted pepitas

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.

In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla. Combine both mixtures and fold in the shredded pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. Once the ingredients are all incorporated pour into a non- stick 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan. If your pan is not non- stick coat it with butter and flour.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. At this point a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf should come out clean. Cool for 15 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely. For muffins temperature should also be 325 degrees F., but bake for 30 minutes.

fresh pumpkin bread recipe / a thousand threads

11 Comments

  1. WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on your website.

    Learn more about debugging in WordPress.