Papa's Pontifications: Pumpkin Bread

PUMPKIN BREAD

We decided not to carve the big pumpkin we put on the front porch for halloween. Robert carved the small one and we also put out the ceramic pumpkin.

From Pumpkin_Bread

The pumpkins remained on the front porch until yesterday; oh well, time flys when you are having a good time. So yesterday the small pumpkin went to the compost bin. The ceramic pumpkin went back in the cabinet and the big one to the kitchen.

The first thing I did was to cut the stem off as close as possible to the pumpkin. Next I cut the pumpkin in half along the equator. Then I scooped out the seeds and strings from the inside.

Cooking a pumpkin is easy; just put some tin foil on a baking sheet and place the pumpkin cut side down on the foil and bake until a knife goes right in with out resistance. For this big pumpkin I set the timer on an hour and a half and it was ready.

Once cooked you can peel the skin right off pumpkin halves and what you are left with looks like a couple of bunt cakes.

I put the normal mixer blade in the big Kitchen-aid mixer and started feeding in the cooked pumpkin. It actually filled up the mixer and I had to take some out to make room for the whole thing. The result filled a large mixing bowl. I also poured in the liquid that cooked out of the pumpkin halves. This complets the preparation of the pumpkin. What you now have is something sort of like what you would get if you purchased canned pumpkin fromt he store.

For the recipe I googled for it and found a "Quick Pumpkin Bread Recipe" at http://allrecipes.com/.

From Pumpkin_Bread

The way the recipe reads is:

To make one 9"X5" Loaf of Pumpkin Bread Preheat Oven To 350F (coat the loaf pan with cooking spray or buter).

INGREDIENT LIST

1/2 cup --- Unsalted Butter
1 cup --- White Sugar
2 eggs
2 cups -- Pumpkin Puree
1/2 teasp - Ground Cinnamon
1/8 teasp - Chinese Five Spice Powder
1/8 teasp - Allspice Powder
2 cups -- All Purpose Flour
1 teasp - Salt
1 teasp - Baking Powder
1 teasp - Baking Soda
3/4 cup - Walnuts Chopped

MIXING DIRECTIONS

Soften the butter and with a wooden spoon or spatula cream the butter in a bowl.
Cream in the sugar into the creamed butter with the spoon until totally mixed.
Mix in the eggs (one at a time) until completely mixed into the butter and sugar.
Mix in the Pumpkin Puree until completely mixed.
In a separate bowl I whisked together the flower, spices, salt and backing powder and baking soda.

Next add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just barely mixed.
Finally mix in the walnut pieces. And pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.

BAKING DIRECTIONS

Place the loaf pan in the preheated oven and bake for one hour. To test for done insert a toot pick, if it comes out dry then the loaf is done. If it comes out with bits of wet batter then cook for another five minutes.

MY MODIFICATIONS AND RESULTS

Because I think my pumpkin puree was a bit wetter than normal I did cook the loves for about 15 extra minutes testing every five minutes after one hour.

Because I did not have any Chinese Five Spice powder I substituted pumpkin pie spice.

Because I had so much pumpkin puree I doubled the recipe and made two makings producing four loves. And had enough for two more loves left over.