Pumpkin Bread

Everyone and their mother has a recipe for pumpkin bread. This happens to be my mother’s recipe — not sure where it originates beyond her — and it is incredibly delicious. Made with oil not butter, the batter comes together in minutes. I mixed mine the night before baking, and used mini loaf pans because, well because, I think they’re cute, and I suppose because I’m getting excited for the impending homemade-gift-giving holiday season.
What else can I say here? Like many of you I suspect, I am consumed by all things pumpkin at the moment…can’t stop dreaming about pumpkin muffins, cheesecake, soup, lattes, fritters, gnocchi, gnudi, yadi yadi yadi. Tis the season! If you don’t have a recipe for pumpkin quick bread up your sleeve, this one is a winner. Happy fall!



Pumpkin Bread
Yield = 2 standard loaf pans or 5 mini loaf pans
Mini loaf pans can be purchased here.
Disposable loaf pans can be purchased here, too.
2 c. sugar
1 c. canola oil
4 eggs
16 oz. canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
3/4 cup water
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. table salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves (optional — I didn’t have any so didn’t use any)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (or less — I used about 1/4 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. allspice (optional — I didn’t have any so didn’t use any)
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease loaf pans with butter or non-stick spray.
2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat sugar and oil together until blended. Add eggs one at a time mixing after each addition. Add pumpkin purée and water and mix until blended.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and allspice. Add to the mixer and mix only until just incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for about an hour (if using standard loaf pans) but start checking for doneness after 45 minutes — the loaves are done when center springs back when touched. Note: When using the small pans, the loaves should be done in under 45 minutes. I started checking after 30 minutes, and the loaves were done after about 35 minutes (or maybe a minute or two longer…lost track of time.)
I love these disposable mini loaf pans, too. They are so pretty! Wonderful for gift giving. I actually baked the loaves in my mini pans before transferring them to the disposable pans — I was thinking this would be less messy —but…oopsidasies, the disposable pans are a wee bit smaller than my non-disposable pans. I kind of had to squeeze the baked loaf to get it to fit. It worked out fine, but next time I’d just as soon bake the loaf in the disposable pan. That’s what it’s for after all, right?





alexandracooks
Nov 05, 2012 @ 13:21:09
Laura — Love the idea of brown sugar and molasses in this bread. I think those flavors must really complement the pumpkin and spices nicely. Thanks so much for sharing!
fran
Nov 12, 2012 @ 17:01:24
Did you ever try to make the pumpkin bread and freeze it?? I wanted to start baking for Thanksgiving now.
fran
Nov 12, 2012 @ 17:06:43
Can I make this in advance and freeze?
alexandracooks
Nov 12, 2012 @ 18:57:16
Fran, This is one quick bread that does freeze well. I have frozen it — it wasn’t frozen for long (maybe two weeks?) — and I think because it is so moist, it really worked beautifully. I think you are safe to bake this ahead and freeze it — Thanksgiving is right around the corner!
Joy
Nov 15, 2012 @ 20:20:49
Tried your pumpkin bread recipe this evening for the first time. The batter tasted wonderful ~ pumpkin and lots of spice flavors! Yum! I was wondering how you would describe the texture of the bread once it was baked. Mine seemed to be a bit “heavy”?? It also took a bit longer than one hour to bake. Possibly because my oven is quite old. The texture is puzzling me? Can you help?
alexandracooks
Nov 16, 2012 @ 18:52:18
Joy, the texture of the bread is very moist and maybe even a little spongy. I wouldn’t call it heavy but it definitely is dense, and sometimes it does take longer to bake. I’m sorry the texture is puzzling you. One recommendation I have is to buy an oven thermometer. This will help you enormously with everything you bake/roast. I have on that hangs from one of the racks in my oven, and I always look at that to gauge the temperature — my oven is about 50º colder according to my oven thermometer than what the dial on top of the oven says. So, that might help you with the timing, but as for the texture…oh! Did you add the 3/4 cup water? I forgot to do that once, and the bread did not come out right.
Joy
Nov 17, 2012 @ 14:17:29
Thanks so much for the advice. I will be on the lookout for an oven thermometer which I am positive will help me.
Guess I’m just an amateur at this stuff, and I always second-guess myself. The bread was eaten up by the end of the night, so I’m thinking it wasn’t as terrible as I thought it was! So happy about that
Thanks again for your help, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
alexandracooks
Nov 17, 2012 @ 18:36:28
Joy — you are so welcome. And you are too nice! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family as well!
LW
Dec 19, 2012 @ 13:25:27
Can you make this with fresh, pureed pumpkin? I have some that I need to use. Thanks!
alexandracooks
Dec 20, 2012 @ 04:51:54
LW — I have never tried, but I imagine fresh, puréed pumpkin could only improve this bread. Happy Baking!
Dara
Dec 21, 2012 @ 21:49:13
Do you think this could be doubled successfully? I want to make mini loaves for office Christmas gifts and I’d like to have 10 mini loaves instead of 5. Could I just double everything across the board? I just started this job and I don’t want to give out yucky bread!
Tori
Dec 21, 2012 @ 23:50:35
I give breads every year for the holidays and decided to try this one. Oh my…..this is so, so good!
We grew pumpkins for halloween and I decided (for the first time) to save a couple and cook them. I cut, baked, then scooped the pumpkin and pureed it. I then sealed in bags and froze them….until now.
I’ve never cooked with fresh pumpkin before and wasn’t sure how the bread would turn out. It is so moist and has so much flavor. The color is golden and beautiful.
Can’t wait to wrap these and share with my loved ones. Thank you for sharing your mother’s recipe. It will be part of my collection forever.
alexandracooks
Dec 22, 2012 @ 06:13:51
Tori — so wonderful to hear this. I am inspired. Next year I must do the same. What a treat to have homemade pumpkin purée on hand. Happy Holidays!
alexandracooks
Dec 22, 2012 @ 06:14:52
Dara — definitely! Go for it. Don’t forget to double the water. happy holidays and good luck!
Olivia
Jan 07, 2013 @ 14:13:54
Delicious!!! I have never baked a pumpkin bread.Let along had pumpkin pie. After reading the reviews and the recipe I decided to make the pumpkin bread but only one loaf. Oh my, one loaf was a big mistake. It had my kitchen smelling so amazing I couldn’t wait until for the cooling off process so I sample it. Yes I did use my stone. Next time when I bake this amazing bread I will use my four section stone. Recipe was easy to follow. Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.
alexandracooks
Jan 07, 2013 @ 18:30:39
Olivia — wonderful to hear this! This is one of my favorites, too. And easy to boot!
Monica
Jan 16, 2013 @ 21:18:21
I made this today, and it was delicious! Not too sweet but simple and moist. I swapped the canola oil for olive oil for a little depth of flavor, and it worked nicely. I also used a mix of all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and garbanzo bean flour so this recipe could easily be made healthier/gluten-free if you want!
alexandracooks
Jan 17, 2013 @ 19:23:10
Monica — awesome to hear this! Do you happen to remember your exact proportions for the gluten-free flour mixture? I think so many people would find that tip helpful, and I would love to make a note in the recipe. No worries if you don’t — it’s just nice to know that it can be made gluten-free.
Monica
Jan 19, 2013 @ 13:46:05
Well, I didn’t make mine gluten-free, but I’d imagine that rice or oat flour would work well. I just tried a mixture of flours as I am still getting acquainted with alternative flours. I made 1/2 of the total flour amount all purpose, 1/4 whole wheat, and 1/4 chickpea flour. Feel free to experiment, everyone!
alexandracooks
Jan 20, 2013 @ 08:17:08
Monica — awesome, thanks so much for these tips!
Liz
Mar 15, 2013 @ 19:34:46
I have made this bread for years. It came from my mother as well. Befire that it came from the back of a label from Libby’s canned pumpkin. Libbys doesn’t sell canned pumpkin anymore! It is great to see this getting attentuon on Pinterest!
Julie
Mar 17, 2013 @ 17:00:17
I made this recipe today. Delicious! I did make a small change. I used a cup of frozen zucchini from last summer with the liquid instead of the water in the receipe and added 1/4 cup of dark chocolate baking chips to make it a little decadent.
alexandracooks
Mar 17, 2013 @ 18:57:39
Julie — love it! Could you even taste the zucchini? Might be a good way to sneak in some veggies on the kiddos. I happen to love zucchini bread as well. Love the idea, of course, of adding chocolate chips. Yum.
alexandracooks
Mar 17, 2013 @ 19:27:43
Liz — Does Libby’s really not sell canned pumpkin anymore? I think that’s one of the kinds I buy, no? Or am I totally confused? set me straight
Liz
Mar 19, 2013 @ 19:52:13
I was mistaken! It was DelMonte! Not Libby! Sorry for the confusion!
alexandracooks
Mar 23, 2013 @ 17:09:34
Liz — no worries! Thanks so much for clarifying!