Pumpkin Bread

Maybe it's the season change, maybe it's the pregnancy and my new fondness for baked goods, but this year I haven't been able to get enough pumpkin bread/ muffins/ pie/ etc...

To celebrate the darker days and annual turning-on-of-the-heater I've been baking pumpkin bread. It's inspired by my mom's delicious original recipe, but I've tried to make it a tad healthier by cutting sugar and adding some fiber. (To you know, counteract all that butter in the picture above.)

Pumpkin Bread (1 standard loaf)

• DRY ingredients
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup teff flour
• 1/4 cup oats
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves (if you don't have all these spices 2 tsps pumpkin pie spice mix wil do)
• 1 tsp baking soda

• WET ingredients
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/3 cup milk (eggnog makes a great substitution!)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Mix wet ingredients together.
3. Combine wet and dry.
4. Optional- Add 1 cups walnuts or other nuts/seeds, etc (for the loaf pictured I use 1/2 cup each chopped pecans and persimmon.)
5. Pour into lighted greased and floured loaf pans.
6. Bake one hour ten minutes in 350 oven.

I've also learned some really valuable lessons about substitutions in baking during the process...

• Though it has a delicious nutty flavor, teff flour makes for a much crumblier loaf than all-purpose flour. Be warned your sliced loaves will fall apart.
• You cannot substitute molasses for sugar. The flavor may be good, but the loaf will collapse.
• Neither can you substitute equal parts bran for flour, see collapse problem above.

And the real prize, for sticking with me, my mom's pumpkin bread recipe:

Makes two standard loaves

3 cups sugar
3.5 cups flour
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
.5 tsp cloves
2 tsp soda

4 eggs
1 cup oil
.67 cups milk
2 cups pumpkin

Mix dry ingredients together.
Mix wet ingredients together.
Combine wet and dry.

Add two cups walnuts or other nuts/seeds, etc (optional).

Pour into lighted greased and floured loaf pans. Bake one hour ten minutes in 350 oven.