Tastes of fall

Oh, hey there, baby. I'm pumpkin bread. Full of spice and errthin nice.
Moist, a lovely speckled orange shade, and seasonal... Look, even the autumn leaves want in on the action.
This pumpkin bread is simple and best the next day. The recipe I used yields 3 sizable loaves-- I've finished almost half a loaf on my own, one is going in the freezer for later, and the other's going to friends... Celebrate the season yo. Recipe's at the bottom of this post with my adaptations, the main change being a sugar reduction.

Oven steak fries (dried oregano, salt). Photo by Eunice!

Eunice C. and I made chili (and steak fries) last week for the first time. We went purty crazy and put things in such as cocoa powder, beer, turkey bacon, and chipotle in adobo... It was good, though we both agreed that the flavor was a bit too heavy/"rich" and that it was better the next day.. I think after I added more stock, tomato puree and tomato paste it tasted a lot more chili-like.

Photo by Eunice C.

We're gonna take another stab at it soon, so I'll post the improved recipe then. Speaking of stab, I got tattoos of a knife and fork, but more on that in the next entry. Until then, savor the season with all things fall and delicious.

Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from Laurie Bennett's recipe. Adaptations in italics.

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil (this may seem like a lot, but it's for 3 large loaves, none of which you'll finish off alone.. right?)
  
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar *I reduced to 1 2/3 cups sugar
  
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

*1 tbsp pumpkin spice instead of all of the below

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour (I didn't flour and it was fine) three 7x3 inch loaf pans (my loaf pans ran a little bigger).
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin spice. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes (mine ran close to about 55-60 minutes) in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Random food fact: I ate a lot of food today and I'm too tired to find real food trivia.


Cheers,
T