Epic Pumpkin Bread

"Only the knife knows what goes on in the heart of a pumpkin."
-Simone Schwarz-Bart

It's here. October. My favorite month of the year. The month where the BF hangs on for dear life, as I vortex all things pumpkin. [Ed. note: I'm worried about you, man. Seriously.] Pumpkin items I adore: bread, muffins, donuts, cakes, cookies, popovers (coming soon to the blog), ice cream, mousse, cheesecake, soups, curries, pancakes, french toast, scones, cinnamon rolls, trifle and candles. Lots and lots of candles.

Most unnecessary pumpkin-spice products that I've seen? Pringles, vodka, body lotion, kale chips,  salsa, salmon and bagels (the BF had a bite and requested that I never, ever, pinkie-swear-on-penalty-of-death buy that again). [Ed. note: Can confirm.]

Side note: The Huffington Post "reports that their taste testers were struck with a variety of reactions to Pringles’ new line of potato chips, ranging from 'surprisingly not revolted' to a 'horrible abomination to humanity.'"

​October is also the month to make a mean pumpkin lasagna, crispy pumpkin and sage cannelloni (coming to the blog close to Thanksgiving) and pumpkin gnocchi. Seriously, I feel like there are not enough days in October for everything I want to make with pumpkin. [Ed. note: So this is why you were pining for them in February.]​

This pumpkin bread is moist, tender and plush on the inside, with a sumptuous cinnamon-sugar craggy lid. One of my biggest pet peeves when baking pumpkin bread are the recipes that use 1 cup of pumpkin puree out of a can that holds 1 ¾ cup. That leftover puree drives me bat-shit crazy. [Ed. note: Can confirm.]​ Fear not, this recipe utilizes every last drop of that canned pumpkin and it only takes one bowl to make.

Very key here is the size of your loaf pan, as this will fill out every inch of it. Mine holds 6 liquid cups; it’s 8 × 4 inches on the bottom and 9 × 5 inches on the top. If yours is even slightly smaller or you’re nervous, go ahead and scoop out a little to make a muffin or two.  
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Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen says, "Finally, I know someone is going to say 'that’s way too much sugar!' but please keep in mind this loaf is gigantic, easily 1.5x a normal one and the sugar is scaled accordingly. You can decrease it if you wish but we have made this now several times and many people have commented about how in-check the sugar level tastes, not over the top at all."

PS: Can't forget last year's pumpkin challah (www.moveablefeast.me/blog/pumpkin-challah), and mini pumpkin whoopie pies with apple cider filling (www.moveablefeast.me/blog/mini-pumpkin-whoopie-pies-with-apple-cider-cream-cheese-filling), which were client and reader favorites.

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen
Number of servings: 8-10

Ingredients
Bread

• 1 15-ounce can (1 ¾ cups) pumpkin puree
  
• ½ cup (120 ml) vegetable or another neutral cooking oil or melted butter (115 grams) 
• 3 large eggs
• 1 ⅔ cups (330 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon fine sea or table salt
• ¾  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Heaped ¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• Heaped ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• Two pinches of ground cloves
• 2 ¼ cups (295 grams) all-purpose flour

Topping

• 1 tablespoon (12 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 °F. Butter a 6-cup loaf pan or coat it with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs and sugar until smooth. Sprinkle baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves over batter. Whisk until well-combined. Add flour and stir with a spoon, until just mixed.
3. Scrape into prepared pan and smooth the top. In a small dish or empty measuring cup, stir sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle over top of batter.
4. Bake bread for 65-75 minutes until a tester poked into all parts of cake (both the top and center will want to hide pockets of uncooked batter) come out batter-free, turning the cake once during the baking time for even coloring.
5. You can cool it in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove it, or cool it completely in there. The latter provides the advantage of letting more of the loose cinnamon sugar on top adhere before being knocked off.
6. Cake keeps at room temperature as long as you can hide it. I like to keep mine in the tin with a piece of foil or plastic just over the cut end and the top exposed, to best keep the lid crisp as long as possible.