Pumpkin Bread

The other night I was chatting on the phone with a good friend. Unable to sit still while talking, I decided to whip up a batch of this bread while talking. I suppose it speaks to the ease of this recipe that I was able to bake while having a phone conversation! And it was super easy--not very messy, didn't create very many dishes, and the ingredients list was relatively short. I also appreciated that the recipe called for a full can of pumpkin--most pumpkin recipes call for 1 cup of puree, so inevitably I find my fridge full of half-full, neglected cans of pumpkin!

The bread itself was just what pumpkin bread should be: moist, sweet and pumpkiny! I omitted the nuts, but that's just because I don't like nuts in my pumpkin bread. I also messed with the sugar amounts. I only had 1 cup of brown sugar, so I added that and used 1 1/3 cups of white sugar.

Fresh out of the oven, this bread was irresistible. Between Travis, the roommate and myself, one of the loaves was gone within a day. And did I mention that while this bread is in the oven, the whole house smelled amazing? Because it did. And so will yours.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
2c all-purpose flour
1 1/2c whole wheat flour
1c brown sugar
1 1/2c granulated sugar
2tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cinnamon (the recipe calls for 1 tsp..but I really like cinnamon)
1tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1c vegetable or canola oil
1/3c maple syrup
1/3c water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease two bread pans. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, pumpkin, water and syrup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and combine thoroughly--make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, to catch any hiding flour! Pour the batter into the two pans and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Turn halfway through. Bread is done when a skewer inserted in comes out clean. Let bread cool in pans for about 20 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling racks. Freeze well-wrapped in plastic, or store in an airtight container (though I wouldn't recommend storing it this way..it starts to lose flavor after a few days).

Enjoy!